Randy Levine put his foot in his mouth today. The Yankees beat reliever Dellin Betances in arbitration, but that wasn’t enough for the Yankees president:
Levine used a conference call with reporters who cover the Yankees to blast Betances’ agent, calling Betances a “victim” and a pawn in a “half-baked attempt” to reset the market for relief pitchers who, like Betances, are not closers.
“It’s like me saying, ‘I’m not the president of the Yankees; I’m an astronaut,’” Levine said. “No, I’m not an astronaut, and Dellin Betances is not a closer.”
Levine added: “That $5 million number? It might as well have been $50 million.”
The arbitration process is contentious enough without rubbing salt in the wound. Sportsmanship may be more important here that on the field. Here’s Betances responding. The Yankees trashed him in the hearing, but he was willing to overlook that. Not this:
“Is it selfish of me just to say now, ‘Hey, guys, I just want to come in for the eighth inning with no runners on, all the time’?” he said.
He continued: “That’s not the player I am. I try to go out there and battle for my teammates. I try to do the best I can. But now that you go in that room and you see some of the comments, do you put yourself at risk at all times?”
This is why teams and players try to avoid arbitration in the first place. Now, Levine may be right about what the agents were trying, but so what? That is their job, and if they won, they would have won a battle for all relief pitchers and might have expanded their practice. Their loss wasn’t going to impress anyone, and now Levine alienated a fine pitcher. Maybe he’s been in the president’s chair a few years too long. Levine’s rant was a huge mistake.
Hear hear!
Might be a purpose to it all. With Chapman making the big bucks and the team mainly looking to compete in 2019 when Betances would be in his walk year, The Yankees might be looking to trade him at the deadline Rather than Cashman and Hal taking the fall from the fans, Levine takes the fall for his bosses. Fans will understand the relationship was damaged beyond repair, and due to no fault from faces of the Brand, Hal and Cashman.
Levine is not paid to be popular and he is no dummy and when smart people do what looks to be dumb things, it may be that people dont understand how really smart businessmen and politicians work
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Ptodd » I would think the purpose would be more along the lines of warning off future cases. A nicer Levine might have said, “We would have been willing to settle at $3.5 million if Betances had come in at $4 million, but his asking price was too high to settle.” That would accomplish the same goal without being mean.
Also, I don’t think the Yankees fans are too enamored of Betances. He had a chance to close games that the Yankees needed down the stretch and didn’t do it. New York fans like winners, and at the moment, Betances doesn’t fit that bill.
This was done with a purpose. It’s not an offhand comment to a reporter after leaving the room. To me it’s a not so sotto voce hint to other clubs against raising non closer relievers pay. I.e., collusion that’s much harder to prove.