Arbitration figures!

So the Yankees have four players who were eligible for arbitration. They already reached a deal with Wilson Betemit, leaving three left.

Brian Bruney wants $845,000, the Yankees are offering $640,000. I imagine they'll come to an agreement relatively soon. Overall Bruney really wasn't that good last year, and aside from small sample sizes, has yet to be anywhere. I think $640,000 is more than reasonable, but they're close enough that they should be able to find a middle ground.

Chien Ming Wang wants 4.6 million, the Yankees are offering 4 million. Again, they're pretty close together here, I imagine they'll come to a deal.

The big question is Robinson Cano. Cano wants 4.55 million...the Yankees are offering only 3.2 million. That's a huge gap, and really kind of surprises me. I expected the Yankees to make similar offers to Wang and Cano, but that's quite a bit off. In 2006 Cano was contending for a batting title at the end of the season, and this past year, he was one of the best hitters on the team after the all star break, putting up very good numbers while playing a strong second base. I'd like to say they come to a deal without going to a hearing, but they're off by an awful lot. I don't know that 4.55 million is a great number, but I imagine it's more likely to be chosen over 3.2 million, which just seems low.

Of course, the other question is "Hey, why not sign these guys to long term deals?" I like Cashman a lot, but the idea of never giving extensions or not signing the younger guys to longer deals is one I disagree with. Look, I understand the idea behind not doing it, and I don't want extensions to become common, nor do I want every young guy signed to long contracts when we really don't know what we'll get from them. But Cano and Wang have been very good, consistently, for 2 and a half years now. Cano in particular just isn't going to be replaced anytime soon...how can you? A longer deal not only buys out a couple of his free agent years at a cheaper price while also making him happy (presumably, I suppose it's possible he doesn't WANT a longer deal), but it avoids the need to go to arbitration every off season, which can save money in and of itself. Maybe the Yankees want to give it another season, I don't know, but these types of things can hurt the team. Same with the extensions...remember how Posada and Mariano wanted extensions at the beginning of 2007? Short of a serious career ending injury (which can happen anytime anyway) everyone knew the Yanks would be trying to resign both guys. If they went for an extension, they probably could have gotten Mariano to come back for quite a bit less money per year, and they probably could have given Posada a 3 year extension instead of signing him to a 4 year contract. Maybe this ends up hurting the Yankees too, maybe not, but in my mind, sometimes it's okay to consider long term deals or extensions.