Dellin Betances has been one of the most elite set up men in the majors in the last few years. He's thrown the most innings, he's had the third most strikeouts behind Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, and has the 4th lowest era behind nothing but elite closers. This offseason is Betances' first chance to get paid through the arbitration process and Betances and his agent filed for 5 million dollars while the Yankees filed for 3 million. Instead of the two parties meeting in the middle of both offers they got dragged to a hearing where both parties make the case for why Betances deserves to either make 3 or 5 million. The hearing process can be ugly. The team pretty much makes the case that the player isn't worth the money that they're asking for in Betances' case the biggest knock has been that he only has 22 saves in the 3 years he's been in the majors.
Saves has been considered an ancient statistic that has no real representation as to how good a player is. Betances lost his hearing and will make 3 million dollars this upcoming season. Three million dollars is not chump change, but it is not indicative of how a pitcher of Betances' caliber should be getting paid. The saber movement has helped front offices quantify how good players are. It's the reason why older players are getting pushed out at the rate they are, but when it comes to a player getting paid front offices use statistics that are considered ancient so they can avoid paying players. Betances got dragged through the mud by his team to save the team 2 million dollars; a team that is valued at 3.4 billion. The arbitration process needs to change so that players in the future can avoid Betances' fate.
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