The New York Yankees have not made it much of a secret that their top priority this offseason was to sign free-agent outfielder Cody Bellinger.
General manager Brian Cashman has been inactive in almost every other area of the market, transmitting a clear belief that his squad is still very much a World Series contender when healthy after getting bounced from the ALDS by the Toronto Blue Jays while missing some key pieces.
On Friday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that the Yankees have finally put an official offer on the table for Bellinger after he hit 29 home runs with 98 RBI in his debut campaign in the Bronx last year.
The 2019 NL MVP, alongside Jazz Chisholm Jr., was the vital support staff hitting behind AL MVP Aaron Judge, and it is a role that he should continue to thrive in for years to come should a reunion truly be in the cards.
But despite the Yankees’ need to bring Bellinger back, there appears to be a degree of hardball in all this. Two days before Heyman’s report, ESPN’s Jeff Passan divulged on Threads that the “Yankees don’t seem inclined to budge,” unless Bellinger and his camp’s “price drops.”
Projections by Spotrac tab Bellinger’s next contract to come in with an annual average value just north of $30 million, which has become a big number for a Yankees team that has had a penchant for pinching pennies at times over the last few years.
There is a risk associated with adopting this hard stance, though. Bellinger is one of the most prominent talents on the free-agent market this winter outside of Kyle Tucker, and there are a considerable number of suitors who could be interested, including the crosstown Mets, who have had just as mystifying an offseason under David Stearns.
The San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers have also been linked to Bellinger in recent days.
Should the Yankees not budge, one of those other interested clubs would surely have little issue spending a little more to acquire one of the best talents still available. That should, in theory, ring especially true for the Mets, who traded away veteran left fielder Brandon Nimmo in November before allowing franchise home run king and first baseman Pete Alonso to walk to the Baltimore Orioles during the Winter Meetings.
While they brought in Jorge Polanco, a career middle infielder, to take at-bats at first and DH, Bellinger has already proven to be reliable as both a corner outfielder and first baseman. That’s the kind of versatility that Stearns usually covets.
For more on Cody Bellinger, visit AMNY.com
