Amid their two biggest free-agent signings of the winter, the Yankees avoided ill will with eight of their own players Friday by signing them to one-year contracts, clearing their board of potential arbitration hearings (which often can be contentious) on the day clubs and players exchanged figures.
All-Star right fielder Aaron Judge led the charge with a $10.175-million deal, followed by Gary Sanchez ($6.35 million), Luke Voit ($4.7 million), Gio Urshela ($4.65 million), Gleyber Torres ($4 million), Chad Green ($2.15 million), Jordan Montgomery ($2.13 million) and Clint Frazier ($2.1 million).
The contracts are non-guaranteed, meaning that the Yankees could release any of them at different junctures of spring training for a fraction of the cost. However, all eight players factor vitally into the Yankees’ ambitions, so new circumstances would have to arise for that non-guaranteed status to factor into any roster decisions.
Combined with the re-signing of DJ LeMahieu to a six-year, $90-million contract and the landing of Corey Kluber on a one-year deal for $11 million, the Yankees — barring a trade — have used up virtually all of their remaining payroll space if they want to stay under the $210-million luxury tax threshold.