{"id":326770,"date":"2025-12-02T21:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T21:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326770\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T21:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T21:41:11","slug":"yankees-facing-challenge-with-cody-bellinger-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326770\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Facing Challenge With Cody Bellinger Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/yankees\/onsi\/news\/new-york-yankees-backup-plan-cody-bellinger-market-grows\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Yankees<\/a>&#8216; top offseason priorities are the outfield and pitching depth, and they have been pursuing a reunion with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/yankees\/onsi\/news\/new-york-yankees-backup-plan-cody-bellinger-market-grows\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cody Bellinger<\/a> to round out their exact outfield makeup from 2025. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=llKnO6HX6K0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jon Heyman of the New York Post<\/a>, however, the Yankees are hitting a roadblock in negotiations with Bellinger (who is represented by Scott Boras), and Bellinger&#8217;s final landing place is still very much up in the air.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any question that Bellinger is their number one guy,&#8221; Heyman said on a recent BleacherReport live stream. &#8220;There is a gap right now in the talks. So that is not anything that appears to be close.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Heyman noted Bellinger&#8217;s history of playing for big-market teams, namely the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs earlier in his career, and theorized that he&#8217;s unlikely to shift from that trend at this point in his career.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">He also pointed to Bellinger&#8217;s versatility as an upside for the Yankees, but of course, the Yankees may not need that versatility with their current plan.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">&#8220;Yankees, probably the favorite, he loved it there I do believe,&#8221; Heyman said. &#8220;His dad played there, he thrived there, he fits there, he could play center, he could play first, they obviously have [Ben] Rice at first, center they&#8217;ve got [Trent] Grisham, but it&#8217;s better that they get a guy that can play all these positions. That&#8217;s why [Kyle] Tucker is really a backup for the Yankees.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bellinger May Prefer the Yankees<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/01kbfyhg1kdgn3xvwd51.jpg\" alt=\"New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger\" title=\"New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger\" width=\"2797\" height=\"2797\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7k\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 31, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger (35) reacts after striking out against the Chicago White Sox during the ninth inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Bellinger enjoyed his time in New York, and may prefer a return over other options. It&#8217;s a business decision in the end, but Bellinger&#8217;s remarks may hint to a leaning.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">&#8220;I had an unbelievable time putting on this uniform,&#8221; Bellinger said on a return to the Yankees, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/NYYankees\/comments\/1o1vvey\/sny_cody_bellinger_says_hed_welcome_a_return_to\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">via SNY<\/a>. &#8220;Yankee Stadium, the fans, the organization, the culture that these guys have created in this locker room. It&#8217;s special.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">Bellinger slashed .272\/ .334\/ .480 with an .814 OPS in 2025, driving in 29 home runs and 98 RBIs. His 160 hits came second only to Aaron Judge, and his 13.7% K rate made him one of the team&#8217;s most reliable bats in a season where the offense was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/yankees\/onsi\/news\/new-york-yankees-need-more-like-toronto-blue-jays\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a little too all-or-nothing<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Other Landing Places?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/01kbg0sn0rny3j2xz7bk.jpg\" alt=\"Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger\" title=\"Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger\" width=\"3165\" height=\"3165\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"86\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oct 12, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) reacts after striking out to end the second inning of game two of the NLDS for the 2022 MLB Playoffs against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">Bellinger is expected to fetch a seven-year, $182 million contract, per<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6778310\/2025\/11\/06\/mlb-top-50-free-agents-2025-2026-kyle-tucker\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> The Athletic&#8217;s Tim Britton<\/a>. He is ranked ninth among The Athletic&#8217;s list of top free agents.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8d\">The Dodgers and the cross-town rival New York Mets are also interested in Bellinger, among a constellation of teams vying for his talents this offseason. According to the same list, Bellinger is favored to land with the Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies or the San Francisco Giants.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8g\">The Mets created a big gap in their outfield with recent trade that sent Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers, and the Dodgers community wants their guy back (Bellinger played six seasons there, with an injury-induced regression over his last few years in LA).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8j\">With any luck, the Yankees can beat them to him.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8m\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/yankees\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Yankees&#8216; top offseason priorities are the outfield and pitching depth, and they have been pursuing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-326770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}