Brett Gardner and Darren O’Day are officially free agents, as the Yankees announced today that both declined their player options and the team declined their options on both as well.Yankees decline options on
Gardner, 38, slashed .222/.327/.362 with 10 home runs, 39 RBI, and 47 runs in 140 games this season. He ostensibly signed to be the fourth outfielder, but was pressed into everyday duty due to injuries and started 113 games, 92 in center field in place of Aaron Hicks.
The career Yankee, who was the last remaining link to the 2009 championship team, had signed a what was basically a guaranteed one-year, $4 million deal last winter; Gardner made a $1 million signing bonus and $1.85 million salary in 2021, and his deal had a $2.3 million player option that, if declined, became a $7.15 million club option with a $1.15 million buyout.
O’Day, 39, pitched just 10 2/3 innings for the Yankees around injuries; he suffered a rotator cuff strain that cost him nearly two months in May and June, and after the returned, he was active for just a week before a hamstring injury that eventually required surgery ended his season.
Like Gardner, O’Day had a complicated contract structure; his was a one-year, $1.75 million deal with a $1.4 million player option for 2022, and if he declined, it reverted to the Yankees having a $3.15 million team option with a $700k buyout – so in essence, O’Day made $2.45 million for his 12 appearances.
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Both men signed their contracts after the Yankees freed up salary by trading Adam Ottavino to Boston, and both contracts were structured as they were to spread out the Yankees’ competitive balance tax hit across multiple years.
Gardner has signed a series of one-year deals in recent years and could return to the Yankees, although there has been scuttlebutt that O’Day, who has pitched just 52 1/3 innings over the last four seasons due to injuries, may retire.
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