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Cody Bellinger could be the second outfielder in as many years to leave the Yankees after playing just one season in the Bronx.
The New York Yankees clearly want to bring back Cody Bellinger, but they apparently have some competition.
Bellinger’s agent Scott Boras intimated that as many as seven other teams, aside from the Yankees, have expressed interest in signing Bellinger while doing a media scrum at the MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando on Tuesday.
The Yankees have considered re-signing Bellinger their top priority, since they intend to largely run back their roster, which manager Aaron Boone called “the most talented” he ever had in eight seasons at the helm.
Bellinger slashed .272/.334/.480 with 29 homers, 25 doubles and 98 RBIs while scoring 89 runs for the Yankees in 2025. The Yankees finish tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the best record in the American League (94-68).
Scott Boras Revealed The Teams Interested In Cody Bellinger In A Riddle
Boras revealed the eight teams are the Yankees, Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, and he did so cagily.
“It’s not for me to judge, but great players see red if they have a big bat yanked out of their lineup,” the power agent said. “I haven’t met a team that dodges a five-tool player. To fill the center-field need is a giant step towards the playoffs. North and south, outfielders that fly with power, they’re rare birds.
“In the offseason, there’s a lot of startup to organizations, and for that reason, there’s a lot of angel investors that are looking for very versatile outfielders. So other than that, Belli doesn’t have much interest.”
Credit Boras for what he did, since now the Yankees, and the rest of the baseball world, now know who they are bidding against. The Mets and Dodgers had previously been reported as potential landing spots — Bellinger played his first six seasons in LA and won the NL MVP in 2019 as a member of the Dodgers.
Still, the Blue Jays present a unique wrinkle, since of course the Yankees are trying to overtake them as both AL East and American League champions. To his credit, Yankees GM Brian Cashman has spoken glowingly about Bellinger and publicly stated the case for him to come back.
“Cody Bellinger would be a great fit for us. I think he’d be a great fit for anybody,” Cashman said. “I think he’s a very talented player that can play multiple positions at a high level and hits lefties, hits righties. He’s a contact guy, and I think our environment was a great one for him.”
Scott Boras: The Yankees Are Not ‘Limiting Payroll’
Much has been made of the owner Hal Steinbrenner’s recent comments where he called having a $300-plus-million payroll “unsustainable.” But according to Boras, neither Steinbrenner, Cashman or team president Randy Levine have shown any inclination of going cheap.
“I don’t think when Cash or Randy call me, they talk about limiting payroll,” Boras said. “They talk about acquiring players. They’ve never made mention of that.”
Boras pointed out the bidding war the Yankees found themselves in to re-sign Juan Soto against the Mets and that they didn’t back down even while the bidding ultimately reached an MLB-record 14-year, $765 million contract that Soto signed to play in Flushing.
“I go back to what they did with Soto last year,” Boras said. “Hal, Randy and Cash did everything they could possibly do to pursue a great talent. I have no reason [to think] that they wouldn’t approach this market any different than that.”
Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens
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