Yankees President Randy Levine Annoyed By Dellin Betances Arbitration, Proclaims Self Astronaut

Dellin Betances lost his arbitration case today and the New York Yankees will only pay him $3 million this season. The 28-year old 3-time All-Star spent most of last season as a set-up man, but saved 12 games after the Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller. Now, with Chapman re-signing with New York, Betances is going back to his set-up role. Still, you can’t blame Betances for trying to get a closer’s salary. Yankees GM Randy Levine doesn’t blame Betances. He blames his agent. A lot. Via NJ.com:

"“What his agents did was make him a victim of a attempt to change a market place in baseball that has been well established for 30, 40 years,” Levine said. “I feel bad for Dellin that he was used in that way by his agent.” Levine called the demand “over the top” and based on “very little sense of reality.” Levine argued that Betances’ case was “like me saying I’m not the president of the Yankees, I’m an astronaut.”"

Middle reliever is to Yankees president as closer is to astronaut. I really wish we could have heard Levine’s reaction if the Yankees had lost.