After winning the 2024 AL pennant, the New York Yankees got bounced in the AL Division Series by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025. Now, they must retool over the coming months as they try to win the first championship since 2009.
The Yankees’ first major offseason move was extending a qualifying offer to outfielder Trent Grisham, who accepted it on Tuesday, per MLB Network’s Mark Feinsand. However, the expiration of fellow outfielder Cody Bellinger’s contract gives them another need at the position.
The former NL MVP was one of New York’s best players this past season, slashing .272/.334/.480 with 29 homers and 98 RBIs over 152 games. He’s now one of the best outfielders on the free-agent market along with four-time All-Star Kyle Tucker.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke about both players on Thursday, per SNY.
“We’d love to have Bellinger back. I talked to [his agent] Scott Boras yesterday about Belli and other free agents of his,” he said. “I talked to Casey Close today about his free agents, he’s got Kyle Tucker amongst others. That’s the nature of the beast in the winter. You play it out, talk to different teams. I had several conversations with teams today. Try to find a way to either make a trade or add a free agent and keep going…”
“The team that we had last year, which was really good on paper, but fell short of our ultimate goal, is now depleted because of free agency,” he continued. “So we gotta find a way to at least get back to where we were, but the ultimate goal is to make it better. We’ve got a lot more work to do, and the whole winter to do it.”
