TAMPA — Randy Levine’s got one serious touchdown dance.
The Yankees’ team president ripped Dellin Betances’ agent, Jim Murray, over and over in a 17-minute conference call with reporters after learning the team beat the talented set-up man in salary arbitration Saturday morning.
“What his agents did was make him a victim of a attempt to change a market place in baseball that has been well established for 30, 40 years,” Levine said. “I feel bad for Dellin that he was used in that way by his agent.”
A trio of arbitrators sided with the Yankees to give the three-time All-Star $3 million for 2017. It was a $2 million blow to Betances, who wanted $5 million.
Levine called the demand “over the top” and based on “very little sense of reality.”
Levine argued that Betances’ case was “like me saying I’m not the president of the Yankees, I’m an astronaut.”
Betances showed up to Yankees spring workouts for the first time Saturday morning, four days after the rest of the club’s pitchers appeared. A Yankees spokesman said Betances would speak with reporters in the afternoon.
The Yankees paid Betances $507,500 last year. A setup man for the first four months, he took over as closer after the trades of Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs and Andrew Miller to Cleveland.
Arbitrators Steven Wolf, Dan Brent and Sylvia Skratek made the decision Saturday morning after Friday’s hearing.
Betances, who turns 29 in March, struck out a league-high 126 hitters last season. He had 12 saves in 17 attempts after taking over the closer role from Aroldis Chapman.
Levine said the Yankees’ main beef with Murray’s argument was simple. Betances isn’t a closer, he’s a set-up man, Levine said, and that he deserved to be paid that way.
“Elite closers get X-amount. That’s the top. Then there’s a pyramid and it goes down,” Levine said. “It’s based principally on the ninth inning and saves. Dellin has been great but he doesn’t have the statistics in the ninth inning or the saves. He just doesn’t have it. At the end of the day, it was obvious that he was not getting $5 million unless it was a fluke.”
Betances should actually be happy, Levine said.
He added that he doesn’t believe there should be animosity between Betances and the Yankees. He said the meeting wasn’t “that contentious.”
“We love Dellin. He’s great. At the end of the day, if Dellin is upset about going into a hearing, now he knows the result. He should have talked to his representatives and said, “Why did you bring me in here? What as the point? I should have made a deal. It was obvious.”
Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.
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