One of the earliest impactful decisions of the Yankees offseason was made earlier today. When Brett Gardner returned for the 2021 season, he did so on a one-year contract that had a $2.3 million player option for 2022, as well as a $7.5 million club option. The latter was always a long shot to be picked up given where the 38-year-old is at this point in his long career, but it seemed like there was an outside chance that Gardner could force the Yankees’ hand by picking up that player option.
However, the Yankees announced minutes ago that this would not be the case.