The New York Yankees still haven't gotten a free agent contract done with Cody Bellinger.
Their clock might be ticking. The other big free agent hitters are off the board.
Kyle Tucker is a Dodger. Alex Bregman is a Cub. Bo Bichette is a Met.
That leaves Bellinger, coming off a great season in the Bronx.
MLB.com columnist Mike Lupica wrote Friday about what might come next here.
"They need Bellinger even more, even though it’s been reported that his agent, Scott Boras, is looking for a seven-year deal and sources say the Yankees aren’t moving off five," Lupica writes. "We may be about to find out -- maybe as quickly as the Mets moved on Bichette after Tucker ended up heading to Los Angeles the way Edwin Díaz already had -- if the Yankees’ thinking on all this might change if the Mets do get involved."
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The Mets already took Juan Soto from the Yanks last offseason.
"And there is at least still a chance there could be a version of the kind of overheated bidding war we got when the Mets and Yankees fought over Soto," Lupica writes. "Nothing like it had ever happened before with a star free agent like this, not with the Yankees and the Mets."
Yankees GM Brian Cashman has emphasized that the Yankees want Bellinger back. Will they offer what it takes?
"The Yankees have made it clear since the season ended just how much they would like to retain Bellinger’s services -- as a hitter, as a fielder, even as a teammate," Lupica writes. "In all of the important ways, and with Soto in another baseball borough in New York, Bellinger was the Yankees’ second most valuable player in 2025, after Judge. He ended up with 29 home runs and 98 RBIs, and he played 152 games. If he didn’t provide as much batting-order protection as Soto had the year before, he provided more than enough for the Yankees to want him back."
Don't be surprised if this one moves quickly. Someone who really wants Bellinger is going to take a big swing to get it done. Whether or not it's the Yankees is up to them.
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