New York Yankees rumors: Zach Britton to NY on three year deal

New York Yankees rumors: Zach Britton, MLB closer and one of the best free agent relief pitchers on the market, has agreed on a deal with the New York Yankees, per reports.

Jeff Passan is saying that Britton is guaranteed $39 million over three years, and after year two, the Yankees have the right to exercise a fourth year option for $14 million. If the Yankees don’t exercise the option, Britton can opt out of the third year.

There was a report earlier today that the Texas Rangers were interested in Britton, as well as Adam Ottavino, though Evan Grant subsequently said that while the Rangers has checked in on the pair, there was neither serious at this point going on. Britton now is apparently off the board, and will presumably be the closer for the Yankees.

Britton is the latest example of the trend we are seeing where players and teams both of options and opt-outs, mechanisms which allow both team and player to mitigate some degree of risk in a longer term deal. I suspect we will see these sorts of arrangements, where players can opt out but teams also have the ability to lock in future years other than by the garden variety “team option for one year that doesn’t have to be exercised until five days after the season ends.”