According to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the Yankees have placed outfielder Cody Bellinger as “their top priority”, and seem pretty confident that, unlike superstar Juan Soto, he won’t skip to Queens”, stated Heyman on Christmas morning.
There’s much speculation around the league in terms of what Bellinger and his agent, Scott Boras, are looking for in a potential deal. MLB Writer Barry Bloom reported the following week, Thursday, December 18th, that sources told him Boras was seeking an eight-year, $400 million contract for Bellinger, according to Bloom.
This report gathered enough media attention that Bellinger’s agent, Scott Boras, in fact called Bloom and asked him to retract this report, calling it “nonsense”, says Bloom. He later stated via his X account that, “In immense respect to him and our decade-long relationship and despite my very credible source, consider it retracted. He didn’t give me a replacement figure.”, stated Bloom on Friday, December 19th, in a tweet on his X account.
Bellinger is one of the top outfielders left on the free agent market alongside Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker, both of whom remain unsigned as of Christmas Day and approaching the New Year. Bellinger is regarded as one of the better outfielders on the market due to his strong 2025 campaign after being traded to the Yankees from the Chicago Cubs during the 2024-25 offseason, in which Bellinger had a nice bounce back season posting a .813 OPS while hitting 29 home runs and 98 RBI’s and playing above average defense in all three outfield positions and first base when needed.
Many in the industry expect Bellinger to land somewhere in the neighborhood of a 5-6 year contract, ranging around 150 million dollars, if not more. ESPN’s Davis Schoenfield predicts that Cody Bellinger will sign a 6-year, $180 million deal with the New York Mets this offseason.
Heyman has also reported that the Yankees have checked in with free agent left fielder Austin Hays, but view him more as a backup option if they can’t retain Bellinger, who Heyman reiterated is their “number one target” this offseason. Hays isn’t as impressive an option as Bellinger, but he has significantly good numbers versus left-handed pitching with a career .819 OPS versus southpaws, according to StatMuse.
If the Yankees don’t re-sign Bellinger and possibly pivot to a guy like Hays, it’s widely viewed that he would serve in a platoon left field role with the young Yankees left fielder, 22-year-old switch-hitter Jasson Dominguez. The rest of the free agent outfield market outside of Bellinger and Tucker, being at the top of the list, is pretty bleak.
There’s former Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader, but he’s traditionally a center fielder. There’s utility player Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, another former Yankee, and older corner outfielders such as Michael Conforto, Starling Marte, Jason Heyward, and Randal Grichuk.
When looking at the entire big picture in terms of the free agency market and what’s available, it makes sense why Bellinger is the Yankees top target. Unless the Yankees can pull off an under-the-radar trade, or decide to go after Kyle Tucker.
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