NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 29: Cody Bellinger #35 of the New York Yankees celebrates after hitting a home run in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium on March 29, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
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The New York Yankees will be welcoming back franchise cornerstones like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole for another shot at the World Series next year, but several other key players could depart.
The team has a number of veteran contributors headed toward free agency, including Paul Goldschmidt, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams. And the outfield could look quite different during next year’s opening day, with both Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger heading toward free agency.
Though Grisham was an important player for the Yankees this past year, the team could replace him relatively easily. But Bellinger is a different story.
The former Most Valuable Player Award winner enjoyed a resurgent season in his debut in the Bronx, slashing .272/.334/.480 with 29 homers on the year. He also demonstrated some key defensive versatility for a Yankees team that will be looking to improve defensively for next year.
Bellinger’s season was so good that he decided to leave $25 million on the table and opt out of the final year of his contract in order to field offers on the open market once again. But ahead of the free agency period officially starting on Thursday, the Yankees had already decided that they will look to bring the veteran outfielder back, according to NJ.com’s Randy Miller, who cited an anonymous major league executive.
“The executive, who isn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that the Yankees will attempt to re-sign free agent outfielder Cody Bellinger regardless of what happens with Grisham, who made $5 million last season,” according to Miller.
Given their high payroll and aggressive front office, the Yankees usually have a good chance of attaining the free agents who they target. But re-signing Bellinger might not be easy.
“Expect the battle for Cody Bellinger to be more aggressive than many think, especially given the Los Angeles Dodgers need an outfielder and have a long history with him,” Brendan Kuty wrote for The Athletic. “Ultimately, we expect him to re-sign with the Yankees, where he was perhaps the MVP among everybody not named Aaron Judge.”
Though Bellinger could be coveted by any number of teams this winter, his fit with the Yankees might be too good for the team to let him go. With Bellinger playing center field, the team could move on from Grisham while keeping Judge in right field.
In any case, it seems the team has already decided to seek a reunion with Bellinger and that could be a good start to next season.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterchawaga/2025/11/06/yankees-make-cody-bellinger-decision-after-25-million-move-report/
