Take Dellin Betances as Exhibit A with what is wrong with free agency for players.

Due to initially being groomed as a starter and Tommy John surgery, Betances’ first full major league season did not come until he was 26. From 26-30, Betances had five seasons among the majors’ best relievers, making four All-Star teams. He does right by the team, compiling 32 more innings than any other reliever in the majors in the span.

But his pay was limited by initially pre-arbitration and then arbitration. In 2017, Betances lost in an antiquated arbitration system that still values saves over across-the-board relief excellence, and there was a contentious aftermath with the organization. Yet, the big righty still made another All-Star team and became even more of a clubhouse leader.

No tin cup is needed for Betances. He has made $16.7 million in the majors including 2019. But just as a comparison, FanGraphs has Betances’ value in that time at $88.8 million.

Now, in his walk year, Betances has had a variety of factors conspiring to make his approaching free agency less financially promising. The most obvious is he is yet to pitch. He has a shoulder impingement, and it was revealed Betances has had a bone spur in his shoulder that until now had been asymptomatic.

He told me he is not worried, that he believes he will come back, help the team win by pitching well and that the final impression of 2019 will be what lingers with suitors.

For now, though, of the five main Yankees who finished last season poised for a walk year, Betances has arguably had his potential worth most endangered — and that includes Didi Gregorius, who has yet to play following Tommy John surgery.

The marketplace has generally continued to treat middle-of-the-diamond dynamic types well. So, Gregorius’ earning power is more promising if he returns healthy and performs well for half of this season. Xander Bogaerts is not exactly apples to apples with Gregorius, but his recent six-year, $120 million extension provides some pathway for a Gregorius pact.

Sonny Gray, despite his Yankees failure, received a three-year, $30.5 million extension beginning in 2020 as part of his trade to the Reds. (By the way, he has a 3.28 ERA in five starts with Cincinnati.) Aaron Hicks received a seven-year, $70 million extension even with his injury-prone history (again, think dynamic, middle-of-the-diamond player plus dearth of available center fielders in the near future). Hicks, like Betances and Gregorius, has yet to play in 2019.

Austin Romine will get the smallest deal of any of these walk-year players. But he again expressed his value while Gary Sanchez was on the injured list. Pitchers and pitching coach Larry Rothschild continue to rave about Romine’s ability to quarterback a game for pitchers. Jeff Mathis got a two-year, $6.25 million pact from the Rangers with a similar rep and less offense, so Romine is probably assured something at least in that range.

Betances told me nothing was close enough in extension talks for him and his agent to strongly consider. So where does this leave him:

Betances has much in common with Andrew Miller. Miller’s 2013-18 and Betances’ 2014-19 have much in common. For the first five seasons of those periods, Miller and Betances were dominant relievers (from 2013-17 Miller had 11.5 Wins Above Replacement, Betances was 11.9 from 2014-18). Then in his walk year, Miller had three injured list stints and had his worst relief season. Betances is on the IL in his walk year. Both also have reps as excellent clubhouse stalwarts.

Miller is two years older, but his workload as a reliever was considerably less. Before last season he might have been looking at a four-year deal at more than $15 million annually after he concluded the four-year, $36 million free-agent deal initially signed with he Yankees. He received a two-year, $25 million pact from the Cardinals and so far has not pitched well.

2. Miller is among the many relievers who has not pitched well and/or stayed healthy since signing a multi-year free-agent deal in recent years.

In an otherwise slowed free-agent market after the 2017 season, one group that did well was relievers. But pretty much all of those deals worked out poorly for the team (think Bryan Shaw, Brandon Morrow, Addison Reed, etc). There were fewer such deals done this past offseason, but the early indicators are mostly more of the same. For example, it cannot help Betances’ cause that David Robertson, another heavily used reliever, is out with a strained elbow after signing a two-year, $23 million pact with the Phillies.

3. The continuing presence of Craig Kimbrel on the market is not a positive for Betances. From 2014-18, a good argument could be made that the premier relievers in the majors were Betances, Kimbrel, Miller, Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen. Kimbrel expected to exceed the five-year, $80 million-ish deals that Chapman and Jansen signed following the 2016 campaign.

But the market shifted downward at the top of the relief market, plus Kimbrel’s 2018 platform season revealed worrisome trends. And teams now look more at future projections than past production (see what Miller got, as another example). Betances’ 2014-18 used to guarantee a huge payday. But his 2019 so far has been spent on the injured list. Maybe Betances will return, pitch great and help the Yankees win, erasing a lot of what is conspiring against him.

Currently, though, it looks like he is a victim of a system that did not fairly compensate him when he was dominant and will punish him now.