Bruney, Yanks avoid salary arbitration

What do you get when you walk 37 guys and strike out 39 in 50 innings while pitching to an ERA worse than league average and getting sent down to AAA in August? Well, if you’re Brian Bruney, the answer is a raise amounting to nearly 100 percent. Bruney and the Yanks settled their salary dispute before arbitration, and the righty’s take will jump from $395,500 to $725,000 in 2008. He’s getting rewarded for not doing his job. In other news, Phil Hughes saw an alligator. It’s a slow news week.