With Andy Pettitte and Bobby Abreu being Type A free agents, the Yankees could have received drafts picks if they offered them arbitration and they signed elsewhere. However, they didn't offer them arbitration. They also didn't offer arbitration to retired pitcher Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi and the rest of their free agents.
This doesn't mean that Pettitte and Abreu are done with the Yankees. Previously, if you didn't offer arbitration to a free agent, you couldn't sign them to a deal until May 1. However, that rule changed, and "we'll stay engaged with the entire free agent market including those two players," Brian Cashman said.
"We did not want to put ourselves in the position of having that determined by a third party without knowing what that figure would be. The arbitration time period falls in early February, so obviously as we attempt to put this team together, in Andy's case and in Bobby's case, they made $16 million a year. It's been tough in the past to try and deviate from previous years' earnings in an arbitration setting.Can't argue with that. Abreu put up great numbers last year (.296, 20 HR, 100 RBI), but at the age of 34, I can't really justify paying him $16 million again. And Pettitte was awful last year, so he certainly doesn't deserve another figure close to $16 million. This is certainly setting the organization up for a big push in terms of the free agent market, but losing the potential draft picks could be a little disconcerting a few years down the road.
All in all, I agree with what Cashman did today. What do you think?
6 comments:
I say keep Bobby Abreu.
The guy goes out everyday, keeps his mouth shut and plays ball-- consistently. Which seems to be a concept a lot of these guys can't figure out.
So you have to pay him a few million more than you probably want to. Oh well. If you can give it to a schmuck like Pavano, you can give it to a workhorse like Abreu any day.
Big mistake if they get rid of him.
No reason to offer Giambi arbitration. He sucks, is over the hill, and wasn't a type-A or even type-B free agent.
The rule that if they didn't offer them free agent they couldn't sign them until May 1st. So there is no reason to offer any none type free agent arbitration.
Pettite wasn't that bad, he just had some bad luck. look at the numbers:
K/9 BB/9 K/BB HR/9
2007 5.89 2.88 2.04 0.67
2008 6.97 2.43 2.87 0.84
His FIP was 3.74 , he SHOULD have had a much better ERA.
I agree with Mark M. I say keep Abreu and his 100 RBIs.
Abreu has had nice production as a Yankee, but I'm still turned off by his play in the field. They have too many DHs playing in the field.
Abreu fears walls.
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