Cody Bellinger is considered the Yankees’ top priority, and New York Post reporter Jon Heyman reaffirmed that widespread belief in his latest column.
What he also noted was that Bellinger, who is of interest to the Mets, is not someone who the Yankees believe will pull the same manuever that Juan Soto did a year prior.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, Soto was a 26-year-old superstar who had the eye of every big market team in baseball, but both were one-year Yankees who the organization hoped to retain for the following season.
Steve Cohen defeated Hal Steinbrenner in their first bidding war to secure the future Hall of Famer, but according to Jon Heyman, the Yankees think “he won’t skip to Queens”, a level of confidence that might indicate positive talks.
Time will tell if these two sides come together on a union or not, but this presents an interesting wrinkle in what has been a dormant free agency for the Yankees to this point.
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A 7 Train to Queens is Not In the Yankees’ Fears For Cody Bellinger Sweepstakes
The Mets have been a thorn in the Yankees’ side over the last 365 days, stealing Juan Soto from them and adding a landry list of quality former players from the Bronx, with Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams all leaving.
Cody Bellinger joining that list would be troublesome for the Yankees, considering they’d be losing their no. 1 free agent target who plays a premium defensive left field with a good bat.
It seems to be price-dependant; while the Yankees’ ideal plan includes a reunion with Bellinger, they will not over-extend themselves to make a clearly reckless offer to retain his services.
Other teams in the market place have taken a more measured approach to the left-handed hitting outfielder, drawing interest from the Dodgers, Giants, and others who seem more interested in a short-term union.
Born and raised in Arizona, Cody Bellinger had spent his life and early playing career on the West Coast, but being non-tendered by the Dodgers led to him heading to Chicago with the Cubs.
Now in New York, people around baseball have gotten the impression that he enjoys playing for the Yankees and the expectation is that if all is equal, he’d return to the Bronx.
That being said, there’s no way to know if the Yankees will end up with the highest offer, but Jon Heyman’s report could be an indication of a free-agent saga that could be gaining some traction.
Usually when Heyman releases these kinds of nuggets of information, they’re coming from Scott Boras’ camp since he has a strong relationship with the agent, which could be a way to goad the Mets into making a higher offer.
Whether Steve Cohen and David Stearns are willing to make a long-term offer to Bellinger or not remains to be seen, but with just weeks to go before pitchers and catchers report, one would imagine this saga ends sooner rather than later.