Dellin Betances signs with Mets
Dellin Betances is officially moving on from the Yankees, as today it was announced that he is signing a one-year deal worth up to $13 million with a player option and a vesting option with the crosstown New York Mets. Jeff Passan first broke the news.
Right-handed reliever Dellin Betances and the New York Mets are in agreement on a one-year deal, sources tell ESPN. The deal includes two player options.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 24, 2019
The structure of Dellin Betances’ deal with the Mets is a one-year deal for 2020, a player option for 2021 and a vesting player option for 2022. Still waiting on the money, but the market for Betances was strong and allowed him to structure a deal with upside and security.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 24, 2019
Betances enjoyed a long and predominantly successful tenure with the Yankees, compiling one of the best reliever stat lines across that eight-year period before losing basically all of 2019 to injury. He sported some otherworldly stats in 2014 and 2015, with still pretty dominant stats in the following years. Just look at those ERA+ and SO/9 numbers!
Standard Pitching Year Age Tm W L ERA G SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Awards 2011 23 NYY 0 0 6.75 2 0 2.2 1 2 2 0 6 2 72 9.40 2.625 3.4 0.0 20.3 6.8 0.33 2013 25 NYY 0 0 10.80 6 0 5.0 9 6 6 1 2 10 40 2.85 2.200 16.2 1.8 3.6 18.0 5.00 2014 26 NYY 5 0 1.40 70 1 90.0 46 15 14 4 24 135 274 1.64 0.778 4.6 0.4 2.4 13.5 5.63 AS,RoY-3 2015 27 NYY 6 4 1.50 74 9 84.0 45 17 14 6 40 131 271 2.48 1.012 4.8 0.6 4.3 14.0 3.28 AS,CYA-14 2016 28 NYY 3 6 3.08 73 12 73.0 54 31 25 5 28 126 140 1.78 1.123 6.7 0.6 3.5 15.5 4.50 AS 2017 29 NYY 3 6 2.87 66 10 59.2 29 20 19 3 44 100 158 3.23 1.223 4.4 0.5 6.6 15.1 2.27 AS 2018 30 NYY 4 6 2.70 66 4 66.2 44 22 20 7 26 115 156 2.47 1.050 5.9 0.9 3.5 15.5 4.42 2019 31 NYY 0 0 0.00 1 0 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 -2.79 0.000 0.0 0.0 0.0 27.0
8 Yr 8 Yr 8 Yr 21 22 2.36 358 36 381.2 228 113 100 26 170 621 177 2.31 1.043 5.4 0.6 4.0 14.6 3.65 162 162 162 4 4 2.36 68 7 72 43 21 19 5 32 118 177 2.31 1.043 5.4 0.6 4.0 14.6 3.65
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 12/24/2019.
When it's all said and done, Betances was a four-time All-Star, finished 3rd place for Rookie of the Year in 2014, and even finished with some Cy Young votes in 2015. He acted as both a setup man and a closer with the majority of his success coming in the former role. He was New York City born and bred, was drafted by the Yankees, and was the only "Killer B" to find any success in the majors. That's probably why this signing hurts so much: not only was he successful, but he was one of the few Yankee draft picks to find success with the major league team in the middle of the decade. His dominance made it easier to trade away Chapman and Miller during the rebuild. Watching his curveball never got old. At the end of the day, he was coming off an injury, and the Yankees had made it pretty clear that Gerrit Cole was their number one priority. Once his contract came on the books, and once the Yankees had signed Gardner, it was clear that there wasn't much room in the payroll for Betances. Plus, the Yankees still consider their bullpen a strength, and in their minds, Betances was nothing more than a luxury. And let's not forget the tension between Betances and Randy Levine that was born out of a heated arbitration hearing back in 2017. Did that factor into the pitcher's decision? Maybe. But in all likelihood, the Yankees simply didn't have a need for the reliever, though a number of fans, myself included, will probably disagree. I'll leave with you this image. To most fans, this is probably the equivalent to getting coal in the stocking, and not the kind spelled Cole. Enjoy him Mets. You got a good one.
