Sherman: Yankees sign remaining pre-arbitration players

March 13, 2014 by Michael Axisa 7 Comments

Via Joel Sherman: The Yankees have signed all of their remaining pre-arbitration-eligible players. I unofficially count 18 of them. Some notables include Eduardo Nunez ($576,900), David Phelps ($541,425), and Michael Pineda ($538,475). The league minimum is $500,000 this season. All of these guys sign split contracts, meaning they earn a different salary in the minors.

The Yankees had previously signed John Ryan Murphy ($502,700), Vidal Nuno ($504,500), and Dean Anna ($500,000). This all procedural stuff. All of these pre-arbitration players are under team control for several more years, so they aren’t coming up on free agency anytime soon. They just needed contracts to cover this coming season and now they have them. A loose end that is tied up.

Mr. Roth

What a waste of money. Just another example of how Cashman has failed this team time and time again. He should have used this money to sign Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds.
forensic

That should basically guarantee Phelps the 5th starter spot. You just can’t throw a guy making that much more money than Pineda into the bullpen. It’s just a waste.
- Mr. Roth
  
  Maybe, but I think they might be envisioning Nunez (not Nuno) as the 5th starter. They have hopes that he can be one of those effectively wild type of pitchers. I’ve been scouting Nunez most of the spring so far, and I think he has a ceiling similar to an AJ Burnett type.
Giancarlo Murphy

I can’t find the link, but I recently read or heard an article or podcast that talked about different teams’ approaches to paying pre-arb guys.

A couple of organizations pay everyone who’s eligible league minimum–period. They say “Those are the rules,” or “It’s only fair and equitable to pay everyone equally with the same service time,” etc. I want to say the Rockies are one such club.

At the other extreme, some clubs have crazy-complex formulas that pay the base, plus maybe a service-time multiplier, and then add $1,000 x 0.71(n), where n = the number of extra-base hits a player had the previous season. Or $200 for every inning pitched over 150.

Then other clubs don’t reveal their formula; they just pay whatever they feel like since the player has no leverage.

The interviewer asked front-office folks and agents if they ever considered future relations with a player, i.e. would you pay a premium to stay in the good graces of a budding star to improve his perception of your club and the chances of signing the kid long-term? The general consensus was, “No.” It’s the free-agent contract offer that makes a player stay or go, not the one before it.

Interesting stuff, I wish I could find it again.
Jerseyjoehaven

The prices that were stated were if the player made the Yankees major league team not the price for playing on the minors team. It’s a split contract. Pineda will be the fifth starter and Phelps will be the spot starter and long relief specialist.
Jerseyjoehaven

The Yankees are still in on 3 Baseman Headley and second / shortstop Drew. They have the chips to trade for Headley now with how the team is shaping up this preseason. Extra catching help and pitching help. With Drew all it needs is a contract after the team finishes preseason. After preseason the draft pick compensation is no longer held to the signing of the player.
Jerseyjoehaven

Pre arbitration as with arbitration. The player states his worth in what he thinks. The team prices his worth by what other players were paid with similar stats and time in on a team. Per arbitration is the two sides get together and talk contract and meet somewhere in the middle and sometimes with a longer contract in the works.

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