Yankees president Randy Levine blasts Dellin Betances' agent over arbitration case

— -- TAMPA, Fla. -- The New York Yankees and their setup man, Dellin Betances, engaged in a verbal feud Saturday as a result of their arbitration hearing, which resulted in the winning side, the Yankees, led by team president Randy Levine, severely criticizing Betances' agent for what Levine thought was an exorbitant salary request.

On Saturday morning, an arbitrator decided in the Yankees' favor, awarding Betances $3 million for 2017 instead of the $5 million he sought. Betances, 28, has been an All-Star in each of his first three seasons.

Betances said even though he felt "trashed" by the Yankees during the 90-minute arbitration hearing Friday, he planned on moving on Saturday. However, in the aftermath of Levine calling Betances a "victim" of his agent's attempt to change the marketplace, Betances said he has reconsidered his position. Furthermore, he said he will have to think about if he will constantly be available to pitch multiple innings and in the middle of innings.

"It is fair for me to say that," said Betances, who has led relievers in innings pitched and strikeouts over his first three years in the big leagues.

Betances said he would fight for his teammates and the club's fans once the season begins, making it seem more likely that when the juices flow he will continue to answer the calls. Betances also said he planned on moving forward, even after hearing the criticism of his game during Friday's arbitration, but that Levine's comments changed his mind.

In a nearly 20-minute conference call, Levine praised Betances as a "great person" and "elite setup man," while criticizing Betances' agent, Jim Murray, for trying to value Betances as a closer instead of being satisfied with being the highest paid setup man for an initial arbitration. Levine also took issue with the coverage of the topic in the New York Times.

The Yankees have a history of mostly settling with players before arbitration, which is known to cause harsh feelings. Levine used that as a prideful point. In this case, Levine leveled the lack of substantial talks at the feet of Murray.

"What his agents did was make him a victim of an attempt to change a marketplace in baseball that has been well established for 30 or 40 years," Levine said. "And I feel bad for Dellin that he was used in that way by his agent, because anyone who knows about this process that the history is very much established that $5 million goes to elite closers."

Murray, Levine said, tried to act as if he could just decide that Betances should be paid as a closer even though he doesn't pitch the ninth inning.

"It is like me saying, 'I'm not the president of the Yankees, I'm an astronaut,'" Levine said. "I'm not an astronaut, and Dellin Betances is not a closer, at least based on statistics, not whether he could be or couldn't."

Murray did not return messages seeking comment, leaving Betances to respond.

"I was planning on putting everything behind me until I was aware of Randy Levine's comments saying I was the victim in this whole process and saying how much they love me, but then they take me in a room, trash me for about an hour-and-a-half," Betances said. "I thought that was unfair."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Betances had never declined to go into a game in his first three seasons with the team. Girardi said he felt as if the whole situation would blow over by the start of the regular season, because when players enter competition their mindset changes. Betances seemed as if he could ultimately agree with his manager.

Levine said it was Murray's fault for putting his client in the position in the first place.

"If Dellin is upset about going to hearing, now we know the result, he should go talk to his representatives and say, 'Why did you bring me in here? What was the point? I should have made a deal. It was obvious,'" Levine said.

While Betances clearly did not agree with that assessment, Betances said that when he went into the arbitration hearing, he told Levine and Yankees executives, "We don't have to be in this room."

The two sides went through with the hearing.