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Yankees win arbitration against Dellin Betances

Unable to come to a conclusion on a contract for 2017, the Yankees and Dellin Betances left the matter in the hands of an arbiter. Betances had been excused from camp this week until a decision was reached. Early Saturday morning, both sides got their answer according to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.

Betances will earn the Yankees’ offer of $3 million for the upcoming season, and not the $5 million he filed for. The case was heard on Friday, and according to the New York Times, the Yankees pointed out Betances’ slow delivery to the plate which surrendered 21 stolen bases in 21 attempts in 2016. Overall, the hearing lasted four hours that pitted Betances’ representatives against team president Randy Levine, GM Brian Cashman and assistant GM’s Jean Afterman and Michael Fishman.

“Obviously, this is the part of the game that somewhat becomes public and sometimes can be frustrating for both sides, but you have to be able to move on,” manager Joe Girardi told the NYT earlier this week. Hal Steinbrenner has said that the decision to go to arbitration is just business, not personal.

Most players avoid arbitration simply because things can get messy, and relationships between team and player can get rocky. The Yankees’ last arbitration hearing was back in 2008 when they defeated Chien-Ming Wang. The hope here is that everyone comes out unscathed and can put the case behind them.

Betances, 28, went 3-6 with a 3.08 ERA last season, notching 126 strikeouts in 73 innings. He took over as closer following the Aroldis Chapman trade, and converted 12 of 14 save attempts. He did, however, allow 11 earned runs over his final 22.2 innings of the season.

The Yankees are now 13-9 all-time in arbitration cases.