Yankees avoid arbitration with Phil Hughes

January 16, 2012 by Mike Axisa 39 Comments

The Yankees and Phil Hughes have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract for 2012, the team announced. His agent says the deal is worth $3.2M with performance bonuses, so he received just a $500k raise thanks to his disaster season. A repeat of his 2010 effort would have bumped Phil’s salary north of $5M. Hughes was arbitration-eligible for the second time, meaning he’ll go through this again next offseason then qualify for free agency the offseason after that.

Noon ET tomorrow is the deadline for teams and their eligible players to submit arbitration figures, so a bunch of signings will happen in the morning. The Yankees have five more players up for arbitration: Russell Martin, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, and Brett Gardner. MLBTR has projected salaries.

diony

I miss the days when Hughes was cheap.

I hope he makes the rotation.
- CJ
  
  “I miss the days when Hughes was cheap.”
  
  That’s about the worst statement I’ve read. Oh wait, “I miss the days when Cano was cheap.”
CMP

The Yankees should have let this case go to arbitration so they could have told Hughes and his agent just was a good for nothing, fat, lazy disgraceful piece of shit he was last year.
- CJ
  
  And maybe the arbitrator would have ruled in favor of the Yankees and accepted the team’s proposal of $3.2 million
Countryclub

How odd is it that this is a non guaranteed deal?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  Everyone one-year deal for a player with less than six years of service time is non-guaranteed.
  - Countryclub
    
    Thanks
P

That would be a funny arbitration hearing. “why exactly do you feel Mr Hughes doesn’t deserve a raise..” “how much time do we have sir?”
- CMP
  
  On the other hand, Hughes’ agent could have said:
  
  “Sir, AJ Burnett makes $16.5 million per year. Have you seen him pitch?”
  - P
    
    Haha. Touché
Slugger27

i dont understand why he gets a raise. if they take him to arbitration, what arbitor would rule in favor of a raise?
- vin
  
  Probably 99 out of 100 would rule in favor a raise. I haven’t studied it, but I can’t recall a time when the player earned less than he did the previous year through arbitration. Arbitration-eligible players always get a raise (deserved or not), which is part of the reason they are reluctant to award players huge settlements (knowing that it will continually set the bar higher for that player and his peers).
  
  Remember, it’s all about precedents. There have been numerous highly-touted, young pitchers alternate success with struggles. Historically speaking, Hughes is more likely to have an above average season than he is a below average one… especially considering he still hasn’t entered his physical prime.
- CJ
  
  In arbitration the team and player submit a proposal, say Yanks submit $3m and team Phil submits $5. The arbitrator rules in favor of one or the other, 3 or 5. It is too late at that point to come up with a negotiated in between number. A player will rarely, if ever, get a pay cut.
  - Slugger27
    
    thats exactly my question. say the yankees submitted $2M, and the hughes camp submitted $5M (since that was your example). Given the facts (he came into camp out of shape, sucked when he was healthy), how could any abiter vote in favor of a raise instead of a slight paycut?
    
    if we’re telling arbiters how they should vote (dudes get raises cuz theyve always gotten raises and thats just the way it is), then whats the point of arbitration at all? maybe i just dont get it.
CJ

So the Yanks saved almost $2 million for Phil Hughes sucking.
Or to put it another way, if Phil Hughes had a good season, they wouldn’t be able to afford a DH since they only have 1-2 million left. In fact, they couldn’t even afford JoVa at league minimum, the pitcher would have to hit.
JoeyA

Arbitration is messy and not fun for either party. The Yankees want to avoid that situation. 2012 will be very telling for Hughes, since he’s getting expensive and they have 2-3 guys knocking on the door.
Overrated Packers

so i guess this is the end for AJ?
- Slugger27
  
  id imagine they have a plan in place to trade one of aj/hughes before the season. i just dont see them putting 2 of garcia/hughes/aj in the bullpen.
  - CJ
    
    2 of AJ, Hughes, Freddy. Arizona may take Freddy, they were in on Bartolo. Hughes will generate a ton of interest. AJ not so much, gonna end up paying him either way.
Monterowasdinero

Poor Phil. Only a 500k raise!
vin

This will be DRob’s first year of arbitration-eligibility. I wonder how his salary will stack up to Joba’s 1.4 mil last year.
- GardnergoesYardner
  
  I’d imagine it would have to pass 1.4 million. The numbers Drob put up last year are once in a lifetime numbers, probably worth more than most of Joba’s career.
  - Jon
    
    Jobas career WAR: 7.9
    Drobs 2011 WAR: 2.8
    
    im thinking no
  - ThatstheMelkyMesaWaysa
    
    I say sign him and trade him away with nunez and Laird for jurrgens that way he doesn’t threaten Sweaty Freddy for the five spot
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
      
      That doesn’t make any sense.
      - ThatstheMelkyMesaWaysa
        
        Not at all, Mike. Hughes isn’t worth our time or money Nunez can’t field and Laird proved he’s not AL material and we need a noesi who’s not Aj.
        
        GardnergoesYardner
        
        But that doesn’t mean those players would get us Jurrijens. Maybe like a back end guy. It’s a pointless argument.
    - Pineda, Piñata. Potato, Potahto (Formerly Jesse)
      
      WAT
- CJ
  
  Not much more. Arbitration is a controlled process based more on service time than performance
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  He’ll get less than Joba because Joba had a year and a half as a starter to his credit.
GardnergoesYardner

Arbitration is a very flawed process to me. GM’s are ripping into their players, potenially damaging the relationship between player and team, and for what? To save between a few million, or in some cases, a couple hundred thousand bucks. Plus only certain things get rewarded, such as power. They should have perfected the system by now.
http://www.bronxbombersreport.com Craig Maduro

I get that $3.2 million isn’t league minimum and I get that Phil Hughes hardly warrants what he’ll make after his 2011 performance, but generally speaking, since when did $3.2 million become “expensive” for a New York Yankees starting pitcher? Even $5 million (assuming his performance warrants it) is chump change for the Yanks.
P

Hughes/Nunez for Andre Ethier in his last season before FA…. Which team says no
- GardnergoesYardner
  
  Yanks becuase they don’t need Ethier in the outfield. If they really want him, they can just sign him next year to replace Swisher and keep Hughes and Nunez.
  - Needed Pitching
    
    Ethier would be just fine for platoon DH, which the Yankes could certainly use. Ethier is probably too expensive though, and I’m not sure why the Dodgers would make that deal.
dennyneagleshooker

“I think I got it. How ’bout this? How ’bout this? We trade Jim Leyritz and Bernie Williams, for Barry Bonds, huh? Whadda ya think? That way you have Griffey and Bonds, in the same outfield! Now you got a team!” -George Costanza
Monterowasdinero

Phil has to get an offspeed pitch he can throw for strikes in any count and his fb needs to be over 90 in every inning he pitches as a starter.

Nova/CC/Pineda have this now. Garcia doesn’t have to. Phil has to prove it to all.
Esteban

Hughes has agreed to be paid in cheeseburgers.
yankeegirl

my God ENOUGH w/ the trashing of Phil; so he had an absolutely TERRIBLE ’11, and?; it happens to the best of ‘em; so sick of people wanting to write him off!!!!!!!!!!