The return of Cody Bellinger makes the Yankees’ offseason plans a lot more clear, as the team has improved its outfield and assembled one of the best offenses in the league.
Last year’s offense has mostly returned and it was a group that led baseball in Runs Scored and OPS; the Yankees liked that team and was not shy about how they felt about the position player group.
Bellinger’s return fills the left field hole, and the team has done most of their heavy lifting I’d imagine especially on the offensive side of the ball, but now the focus can be on the pitching side.
With the Yankees still keeping their treasure chest of pieces on the prospect side and a potential surplus of pitching depth, they could end up assembling a truly dynamic roster for 2026.
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The Yankees Have More Chips to Move Following Cody Bellinger’s Return
Jasson Dominguez suddenly gets moved to the middle of any trade conversation for the Yankees, as outfielders are of-demand this winter and they can offer five years of a solid corner bat for a team.
The Yankees made him available for trade numerous times over the last few seasons, not because they dislike the player but because they’ve had either Juan Soto or Cody Bellinger as the corner outfielder across from Aaron Judge.
Both of those players are clearly better for the team’s chances of winning a title than Dominguez, and I think this is the point where we finally see the team move on from him.
Couple that with pitchers such as Luis Gil or Will Warren who are more expendable with Ryan Weathers being added to the team last week, and you can form together a fairly enticing package to land an impact starter, reliever, or both.
Freddy Peralta is a name I keep coming back to as a move that would push the Yankees over the top in the American League, he’s not an ace but he’s a really good pitcher who forms a super rotation in the Bronx.
FanGraphs currently projects the Yankees to win 87.5 games, the most for any team in the American League right now by a slim margin, but adding an impact starter would definitely shift that even further.
The Mets and Dodgers are reportedly after Peralta as well which definitely complicates these trade conversations for the Yankees, who don’t have as strong of a farm system as they do.
That being said, Max Fried and Freddy Peralta anchoring the rotation while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon come back from injury would be absolutely disgusting and make this team one of the best in the entire sport.
The bullpen and bench are other areas we could see the Yankees address the roster, and I’d look at cheap players who can fill in roles as solid contributors.
JoJo Romero of the Cardinals or a signing of Austin Hays would be good additions for this team to make, although I understand that each addition they make from here on out is taxed at a 110% clip.
What I hope for is some clean-up work on these two fronts; I’ll take a reliever over an additional bench bat just because Jose Caballero can play the corner outfield and all around the infield while mashing lefties.
The same is somewhat true for Amed Rosario although he seems penciled in as the third base platoon with Ryan McMahon which is more than fine.
With the trade chips the Yankees have they can pull these things off, maybe even in one move if Trevor Megill is on the table, and on the bullpen side specifically I’m open to a project arm with upside like Fernando Cruz was last year.
FanGraphs projects the Yankees to have the second-best position player WAR (31.1), the 11th-best pitching WAR (16.3), and the second-best overall WAR (47.4) in MLB.
If they can make those final over-the-top moves, which Cody Bellinger gives them the trade ammo to do, this team could be far better than their 2025 counterparts.