Six Yankees file for salary arbitration
As the MLB offseason continues, salary arbitration season is now in full swing across the league. Starting today and extending through February 21st, players who have a certain amount of service time (number of years playing in the MLB), enter into the salary arbitration process with their teams, and the Yankees will be engaged in talks with certain players this year during the process. According to Wallace Mathews of ESPN.com, six players with the team have filed for salary arbitration.
Six Yankees -- Ackley, Chapman, Eovaldi, Gregorius, Nova and Pineda -- filed for salary arbitration today
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) January 13, 2016
Michael Pineda, Ivan Nova, Didi Gregorius, Dustin Ackley, Nathan Eovaldi, and newly acquired closer Aroldis Chapman are the six players to file for arbitration. Once a player has enough service time, typically around three years of playing time at the big leauge level, they are arbitration eligible. The players have more leverage during the process because they can now make their case on how much they should earn based on their play. If they feel they have outplayed their contract and are due for a raise, they will file for arbitration. The players who are eligible for arbitration had to file by January 12th. Teams have until January 15 to negotiate with the players and come to an agreement on an amount for the player to be paid for the upcoming season. If both sides are unable to come up with a deal, the players salary for the season will be decided by the arbitration panel. The hearings take place from February 1st and February 21st. The most interesting situation for the Yankees is that of Chapman, who may have a suspension looming due to an offseason domestic violence claim. However, MLB is nearing a decision on the lefty hurler. With the salary arbitration process ongoing, Chapman could be under team control for 2017 as well in the event he is suspended at least 45 games during the 2016 season. If he is indeed suspended for that length, he would lose his sixth year of Major Leauge Service time, thus giving the team control of him during 2017 without signing a new contract. Barring a trade, all six players will be on the Yankees roster for the 2016 season.