For weeks, the Yankees appeared to be playing a perfect game of poker with Cody Bellinger. General Manager Brian Cashman held the line on a five-year offer, betting that the market would soften and the slugger would eventually return to the Bronx on a deal that made sense for the club. They were essentially inching toward the finish line, confident that no other team would meet Bellinger’s demands.
Then, Thursday night happened.
In a move that sent shockwaves from Los Angeles to Queens, the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker to a massive deal, officially taking the premier outfielder off the board. While this seems like a National League problem, the ripple effects have landed squarely on Cashman’s desk.
With Tucker gone, the New York Mets are left empty-handed, flushed with cash, and desperate for a star to pair with Juan Soto. Suddenly, the Yankees’ quiet negotiation with Bellinger has transformed into a potential bidding war with the richest owner in sports.
Steve Cohen Is on the Rebound, and That’s Dangerous
If you are Steve Cohen, you don’t just take a loss on Kyle Tucker and go home quietly. You look for the next best thing, and right now, that is Cody Bellinger. The Mets have a gaping hole in their outfield and a clear need for the kind of versatility Bellinger provides. He can patrol all three outfield spots at an elite level and play as a solid first baseman, offering the Mets a defensive Swiss Army knife that their roster currently lacks.
Bellinger is coming off a solid 2025 campaign in pinstripes, where he hit 29 home runs and drove in 98 runs with an OPS north of .800. While there are legitimate concerns about his numbers regressing without the short right porch of Yankee Stadium to aim for—his home OPS was significantly higher than his road splits last season—he is still a proven contact hitter with power who lengthens any lineup. For a Mets team looking to pivot quickly, he checks every box.
The Price Just Went Up
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, a bidding war is likely on the horizon, and the numbers are about to get uncomfortable for the Yankees.
The Yankees have reportedly drawn a line in the sand with a five-year offer hovering around $31 million per season. It’s a fair, calculated valuation for a player with Bellinger’s injury history. However, the Mets have been operating with a different playbook this winter: shorter terms, but record-breaking average annual values (AAV).
Bellinger’s camp has been holding out for years and guarantees, but if the Mets swoop in with a four-year offer at $37 million per season, the math changes. That kind of AAV blows the Yankees’ offer out of the water and gives Bellinger the chance to cash in big now and hit the market again in his mid-30s. The Yankees thought they had this wrapped up, but with the Mets suddenly desperate and dangerous, the price of doing business in the Bronx just got a lot steeper.