Britton’s option gets picked up
Move locks in key part of bullpen for next 2 years
The Yankees made the first of their important offseason moves Thursday, picking up the option on Zack Britton’s contract.
It guarantees he will be an anchor in their bullpen for the next two seasons. The Yankees exercised a unique option for the 2022 season; if they had not, the lefthanded reliever would have become a free agent.
Friday was the deadline for the option.
It’s a move that would have been a given in the days before the coronavirus pandemic. Britton has been reliable and is ideal insurance for Aroldis Chapman, who has been responsible for the game-winning runs that have ended the Yankees’ playoff runs the last two seasons. But after a 60-game season without fans where there were record economic losses, even a $13 million price tag for 2021 and $14 million for 2022 took some consideration.
The contract now expands from $39 million guaranteed to $53 million total.
Britton, 32, has posted a 2.14 ERA in 105 ⅓ innings as a Yankee. It makes sense that they would pick up the option. He pitched to a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings over 20 appearances in this abbreviated season. While Chapman sat out with COVID-19, Britton went 8-for-8 in save opportunities.
He also has played a big role in the Yankees clubhouse.
As the team’s union rep, Britton was the point person for the players while the Yankees and Major League Baseball tried to negotiate the 60-game season during the pandemic. In fact, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made a point to praise Britton’s leadership after the season.
“I want to really give a major shout-out to Zack Britton, who obviously had
the higher level of responsibilities as our player rep and the go-between with our ownership and front office on behalf of his union and his teammates, and in a time that obviously was really a difficult position to be in,” Cashman said.
The Yankees declined the $10 million option on Brett Gardner’s contract and the $17 million option on lefthander J.A. Happ’s contract.
TheHappdecisionwasno surprise after the team and the veteran pitcher bickered back and forth this season.
HappaccusedtheYankees of manipulating his playing time to prevent his option from vesting. The Yankees pointed out that Happ, comingoffahorrendous2019, started the season poorly and then used him in an untraditional role as a “bulk guy” out of the bullpen in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, which imploded onthem. Happ, however, had the longest stretch of good starts by any Yankees starter this season.
The decision with Gardner is more complicated.
A careerlong Yankee, Gardner has made it very clear he does not want to retire and also has made it known he wants to be a Yankee. Even though they declined the $10 million option, Gardner could come back on a more teamfriendly deal after they settle the $2.5 million buyout.
A fan favorite with his feisty style of play and obvious passion off the field, Gardner was brought back in 2020 as a safeguard on a one-year, $12.5 million deal with a team option for 2021.
He was coming off a career year in which he hit .251 with a career-high 28 home runs, helping the Yankees hold it together through injuries to Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks.
Hicks was expected to miss the start of the 2020 season after Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. That was one factor in bringing back Gardner.
The Yankees were also uncertain about the outfielders in their player-development system, particularly Clint Frazier.
The hyped 26-year-old had a horrible 2019 season defensively. Ranked the worst defensive player in the outfield that season, the Yankees were unwilling to bet on him and Mike Tauchman in case of injuries impacting the 2020 season.
But this season, Gardner started out slow, hitting .183 the first month of a basically three-month season. The 37-year-old also saw a decline in his defense. Rated as great as an outfielder by Baseball Savant last season, Gardner was average to below average this season.
Thatcameatthesametime Frazier is seeming to mature as a player and a person.
The Yankees still have important decisions ahead this winter. The next will be whether they will make the qualifying offer to DJ LeMahieu, Masahiro Tanaka or James Paxton.
They have five days from the end of the World Series to make those offers, which are worth $18.9 million for 2021.