Betances: Yankees say they love me, then trash me
New York Yankees reliever Dellin Betances received some first-hand experience of how ugly an arbitration hearing can get.
Moments after it was revealed Saturday that Betances lost his case against the club and would make $3 million in 2017 - not the $5 million he requested - Yankees president Randy Levine ripped Betances' agents for what he called a "half-baked attempt" to manipulate the market, saying the right-hander didn't deserve the significant raise because he's not a closer.
Betances not only took exception to the highly contentious meeting, but Levine's subsequent comments.
"Even though I disagree with the arbitrator's decision, I was planning on putting everything behind me," Betances told reporters. "(That was) until I was (made) aware of Randy Levine's comments, saying I was a victim in this whole process and saying how much they love me, but then they take me in a room and they trash me for about an hour-and-a-half and I thought that was unfair for me.
"I feel like I've done a lot for this organization, especially in these last three years. I've taken the ball time after time. Whenever they needed me I was there for them. I never said no. Whenever (Joe) Girardi said, 'Do you want the ball?,' I got it. For me, I felt like this whole process was unfair. We try to come to middle ground and nothing really happened."
Related: Levine rips Betances' agents for 'half baked' arbitration ask
Betances has been arguably the Yankees' most valuable player over the past three seasons, logging 247 innings - the most of any reliever in the majors. He's a three-time All-Star and posted a 1.93 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 22 saves over that span while making a combined $1.5 million.
While Betances acknowledged he's upset, he's looking forward to putting Saturday's events behind him and getting back on the field.
"I love playing, I love competing for my teammates. I love competing in front of the fans. For me, it's easy," Betances said of moving on. "It's probably the last day I'm going to talk about this. I just wanted to get it off my chest."
Betances has two more years of arbitration eligibility and said the experience gave him a new outlook on hitting the open market in winter 2019.
"You look at it a little differently now," he said. "I think (free agency) will be a little easier when the time comes."