Yankees president rips Betances' agents for 'half-baked' arbitration ask

The New York Yankees and Dellin Betances may have had their arbitration case resolved on Saturday, but there appears to be plenty of bad blood left stewing between the two sides.

Betances asked for $5 million from the three-person arbitration panel in his first year of eligibility, while the Yankees countered, and won, with a $3-million offer.

"He doesn't have the stats," Yankees president Randy Levine told reporters, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, while adding that Betances' $5-million request might as well have been $50 million.

Levine went on to criticize Betances' agents, calling their attempt to land a $5-million salary "half baked," while adding that it had "no bearing in reality." Levine also went on to say that it now puts the organization in an awkward position with Betances heading into camp.

"This was a half-baked attempt to undo all that history, which everybody in the game - club, union, agents - knew and trying to change the market in a radical way using Dellin Betances to say there's no difference between closers and elite setup men and regular relief pitchers," Levine said.

Betances' agent Jim Murray took exception to Levine's comments shortly after.

"If anyone is overreaching it is Yankees with these comments," Murray said, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Murray added that Levine showed "love and appreciation" during the arbitration hearing Friday, but later referred to Betances as 'Dylan.'

The arbitration process was especially uncomfortable for Betances.

Levine believes the 28-year-old was unworthy of such a large spike in salary due to the fact that he is a middle reliever and not a closer. Betances has served in a ninth-inning role for the Yankees at times over the last three years, but not on a consistent basis, and he won't serve as a closer in the future with the re-signing of Aroldis Chapman.

Betances, however, hoped to receive a significant pay raise due to the fact that he's thrown more innings than any other reliever in baseball over the last three seasons. He's logged 247 innings since 2014, with New York Mets closer Jeurys Familia registering the next-highest workload at 233 innings.

That workload, however, wasn't enough to change Levine's mind.

"It's like me saying I'm not president of the Yankees, I'm an astronaut. No, I'm not an astronaut and Dellin Betances is not a closer," Levine said.