The Yankees have made the deal official Cody Bellinger this week, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The details of the proposal are not known.
General manager Brian Cashman made no secret of the team’s desire to keep Bellinger. The MVP’s first year in the Bronx was great. He hit .272/.334/.480 with 29 home runs, his most in a season since 2019. Bellinger’s bat played best at Yankee Stadium, where he posted a .302/.365/.544 line with 18 long balls.
New York acquired Bellinger from the Cubs last winter in what amounted to a salary dump. They broke up with journeyman righty Cody Poteet while taking all but $5MM of the remaining two years and $52.5MM on Bellinger’s contract. When he finally got out, the Yankees paid $27.5MM for that best year. It may take a five- or six-year commitment to bring him back as he enters his age-30 season.
The Yankees had a quiet first few months of the season. Their only step of importance was to issue a qualifying application Trent Grisham. He accepted surprisingly well and is back in center field on a one-year, $22.025MM contract. Bellinger was ineligible for a QO after getting one from the Cubans in the 2023-24 offseason.
Grisham’s salary includes most of the $29.025MM they have spent in free agency so far. The remaining $7MM is divided between one-year return agreements Paul Blackburn, Amed Rosario again Ryan Yarbrough. Their only MLB acquisition outside of the organization was a Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest.
That won’t be the entire season for the Yankees. They probably expected Bellinger’s free agency to continue through the winter. Top two agent hitters, Kyle Tucker again Bo Bichetteeach makes sense on paper if Bellinger goes elsewhere. Signing one of Tucker or Bellinger would allow them to rotate their outfielders into position if Giancarlo Stanton spend any time on the injured list. Bellinger can spell Ben Rice at first and/or took time to play in left field from Jason Domínguezyou have two options left.
An outfielder isn’t an absolute necessity, but it’s probably a neat way to add an impact position player. Shortstop will be the other primary option. Bichette is the only real solution there and faces questions about his defensive fitness. He could be an option to handle shortstop for the season and move to second base once Jazz Chisholm Jr. gets free agency a year from now. The Yankees have reportedly made Chisholm available in trade talks, but that would change one of their best players in the process.
Another option would be to do a rotation splash with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón again Clark Schmidt to open the season on the injured list. Framber Valdez, Guard Suárez again Zac Gallen they are the best remaining agent launchers now that NPB is ready Tatsuya Imai off the board on a three-year contract with Houston. The Yankees were one of the teams linked to Imai when he was a free agent, but both Heyman and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote after the signing that the Yanks were not very involved in the bidding.
RosterResource projects the Yankees at a luxury tax figure of $286MM. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has spoken generally of a desire to stay under $300MM in the past, though Cashman suggested in November that that’s not a hard limit this offseason. The Yankees had a $320MM tax bill at the end of the 2025 season.
