President of the New York Yankees rips Dellin Betances’ agents

Following an arbitration win for the New York Yankees, Randy Levine took shots at Dellin Betances’ agents for how he handled the process. 

The New York Yankees won the arbitration case over All-Star reliever Dellin Betances, and team president Randy Levine attacked his agents for “over-reaching.”

According to Newsday’s Erik Boland, Levine also blamed Betances team (Excel Sports Management) for trying to “change the marketplace” for relief pitchers.

New York filed for $3 million and won and while Betances did not receive the $5 million he filed for, he did receive a significant increase from his $507,500 salary last season.

The most shocking part of Levine’s comments, however, is when he said Betances didn’t deserve $5 million because he’s not a closer.

“$5 million goes to elite closers,” Levine said. “Pitchers who pitch the ninth inning and have a lot of saves. Dellin didn’t have that record. He never did.”

Since coming into the league as a relief pitcher in 2014, Betances has registered the most strikeouts (392) among major league relievers while his 15.53 strikeout-to-walk ratio led the majors in 2016.

Aroldis Chapman, the man who just received a $86 million contract, trails Betances in both of those categories.

Betances tried to get New York to negotiate on multi-year proposals last December and even attempted to settle the arbitration case in the hearing room before the hearing, according to Joel Sherman of the NY Post. The Yankees, however, considered the sides too far apart and proceeded with the case.

Adding Levine’s comments and even Betances’ agent’s response into the equation, there is unquestionably some bad blood between this organization and one of its top performers.