Yankees head to arbitration with Aroldis Chapman and three others

The Yankees avoided arbitration with Michael Pineda and Dustin Ackley last week, but they'll be heading to arbitration to settle the 2016 salaries of Aroldis Chapman, Nathan Eovaldi, Didi Gregorius, and Ivan Nova. The team and players failed to come to an agreement ahead of the deadline, so both sides filed what they thought was fair, and the ultimate outcome will likely fall somewhere in between.

Chapman and the team were the farthest apart with Chapman filing at $13.1 million and the Yankees filing at $9 million. Chapman made just over $8 million last year with the Reds, and his 1.63 ERA, 33 saves, 1.94 FIP, and All-Star Game appearance will likely net him more than the close to $1 million raise the Yankees were offering. Many people seemed frustrated that the Yankees would "low ball" their new closer, but arbitration is a business. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they have already tapped him as their closer for 2017. That alone should give him a boost in value when it comes time to settle.

Eovaldi and the Yankees had the second biggest gap in filings with Eovaldi requesting $6.3 million and the team offering $4.9 million. 2015 was the first time Eovaldi cracked the million dollar mark by bringing in $3.3 million, so asking to almost double his salary is pretty ambitious. Although he was the team's best pitcher for most of the second half last year, it seems likely that his 2016 salary will end up closer to what the Yankees are offering than what he asked for.

The Yankees probably should have gone ahead and settled with Gregorius, seeing as how their shortstop filed at $2.525 million and they offered $2.3 million. It seems pretty silly to squabble over such a small difference, but I guess that is, again, the business aspect of it. Gregorius made only $553,900 last year before coming to New York and filling the shoes of Derek Jeter as the Yankee shortstop. He had a rough first month, for sure, but after that he was rock solid. Either way, it looks like Didi is in for a nice raise this season.

After making $3.3 million each of the last two seasons, Nova decided that he was due a raise. He filed at $4.6 million to the Yankees' $3.8 million. Asking for a $1.3 million raise when pitching only 94 innings with a 5+ ERA seems kind of bold, so it wouldn't be surprising to see the Yankees come out ahead of this one. Nova doesn't even presently have a place in the team's rotation for next season. 2016 is Nova's final year before free agency, so it'll be interesting to see what he can get before he hits the open market.

Do you think the Yankees should have tried harder to avoid arbitration with any of these players, or are you okay with them playing a bit of hardball?