Yankees' Rival Poised to Steal Cody Bellinger

Here we go again. For the second time in as many years, the New York Mets could upgrade their outfield at the expense of the New York Yankees.

National League MVP finalist Juan Soto went from the Bronx to Queens after the 2024 season. If ESPN's David Schoenfield is right, outfielder Cody Bellinger could be following suit. That's because Schoenfield says the Mets are Bellinger's best fit.

King of Queens?

"Bellinger surprisingly tops the list in 2025 WAR, although that doesn't by any means suggest he's going to get the biggest contract," Schoenfield notes. "Indeed, although he offers positional versatility with his ability to play all three outfield positions as well as first base, teams will be skeptical of his 2025 numbers since he hit .302 with 18 home runs and a .909 OPS at Yankee Stadium with its short porch compared with .241 with 11 home runs and a .715 OPS on the road.

"Bellinger works for the Mets both in center field -- heck, they were playing 33-year-old infielderJeff McNeil out there at times -- and at first, if they don't re-sign Pete Alonso," Schoenfield adds.

That said, Schoenfield believes the second-best fit for Bellinger is the Yankees.

"A reunion with the Yankees is possible, but if the Yankees are committed to Jasson Dominguez in left field and give Spencer Jones a shot in center, they're going to be reluctant to give Bellinger a long-term contract," Schoenfield writes.

"Given some of their recent returns on long deals (DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton), they probably don't want to get sucked into another big contract for a non-superstar player, no matter how good Bellinger was in 2025," Schoenfield concludes.

Contrarian View

Other MLB insiders believe more strongly that Bellinger will re-sign with the Yankees.

"The general sense is that the Yanks will prioritize retaining Bellinger this offseason, but they’ll have company in the free agency market, coming off a year in which Bellinger hit .272/.334/.480 with 29 homers and 89 RBIs and posted a 4.9 fWAR," MLB.com's Bryan Hoch reports.

"The Yankees are prioritizing Cody Bellinger, and while word is he’d like to return, there’s no sense it will go quickly," the New York Post's Jon Heyman reports.

"I think the Yankees are going to kind of be in it," according to the New York Post's Joel Sherman. "And my suspicion is do what the Yankees usually do, which is when they really want a player, they let Scott Boras in this case know, 'We really want your player. If he really wants us, don't let him sign without us getting in at the end.'"