The Yankees Offer Nobody Arbitration

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)   Say goodbye to all of those draft picks you thought the Yankees would obtain. According to Peter Abraham, the Yankees are not offering anyone arbitration. The LoHud Yankees Blog: That’s right, nobody. So forget those draft picks. More to come … UPDATE, 5:27 p.m.: It came down to economics. The Yankees did not want to risk going to arbitration with any of their players given the salaries they made last season. To refresh your memories: Bobby Abreu made $16 million, Andy Pettitte made $16 million and Pudge Rodriguez made $13 million. All three would have been in a position to get at least as much via arbitration and likely some sort of raise. Meanwhile, if Mike Mussina suddenly decides to play for somebody else, the Yankees get nothing in return. Sure, that’s extremely unlikely. But that was supposedly the case for Roger Clemens, too. Cashman said the Yankees remain engaged with Pettitte and Abreu. To what degree isn’t ... (link)