Yankees News: 3 most team-friendly contracts

The New York Yankees have been known in the past to shell out large contracts to the top tier free agents. However, they have also been able to work out many deals that may have been undervalued to what some players have been able to do on the field.

Brian Cashman has handed out big contracts over his 20+ years as general manager of the Yankees, most recently to Gerrit Cole. Cashman has also given out very team-friendly contracts over the past several years, some of which will be on this list.

These are the three most team-friendly contracts the Yankees currently have. This list does not include players that are in pre-arbitration or are in their arbitration years taking their contract status year by year. If a player has agreed to a long-term deal to cover arbitration years, they can be included in this list.

Most team-friendly contracts – No. 3: Luis Severino

Although Severino has experienced trouble with injuries over the past several seasons, he still has the potential to make this a huge win for the Yankees.

Severino signed a 4-year, $40 million contract before the 2019 season with a $15 million club option for 2023. The contract covered his three years of arbitration and up to two years of free agency, locking Severino in pinstripes until he turns 29.

So far into his extension, Severino has not quite lived up to his contract. He missed most of the 2019 season due to a lat strain and will miss the entire 2020 season due to Tommy John Surgery to repair a partially torn UCL.

Throughout the 2017 and ’18 seasons, Severino had a combined 33-14 record with a 3.19 ERA. He was an All-Star both seasons and finished third in Cy Young voting in 2017. These two seasons were the reason that Cashman decided to lock him up long-term.

If Severino remained healthy and went through arbitration he would be awarded much more than $10 million annually, especially in his second and third years.

If he can come back in 2021 and give the Yankees two, hopefully, three, strong years, the contract will make Cashman look like a genius. If he cannot stay healthy, then the Yankees do not have to keep him beyond the 2022 season.