Since the start of Judge's prime, they have passed on at least four different superstars who were available in free agency and 27-years-old or younger. There are great opportunities in FA, they just choose not to take advantage of them
I'm just so done with Volpe. He seems like a good dude but he shouldn't be playing SS for the Yankees. He never should have played SS for the Yankees. Maybe he has a place on another team but Cashman fucked this up so badly. And instead of just cutting him loose and moving on we're going to be stuck with him for years. Maybe his entire career.
Corey seater played 52 and 95 games the two years before being a free agent. So while yes he has been really good his injury history was still an issue at the time.
21.9 bWAR for Olson in the last 4 years. So not quite as much as Seager but he has also played every game for the last 4 seasons, which would be pretty valuable to the Yankees.
I have always been of the opinion that a professional at anything is better equipped to tell me how to do what they do than me. Almost to the point where I could be considered a Cashman apologist. He knows more about the business of baseball than me. Easy.
But when Harper AND Machado were begging to be Yankees and Cashman didn’t even sniff? That was hard for even me to justify. Tremendous fuck up that offseason.
Sucks both players wanted to come but I don’t think the FO wanted to pay Machado the 300mil he wanted, and the price tag on Harper too with judge and Stanton already on the roster and both playing outfield
Just you wait! Cashman is going trade prospects for him when he’s at 37-38 yo and we are going for a playoff push. The Alfonso Soriano/ichiro Suzuki/encarnacion deadline special acquisition.
I remember when he was a top high school or college baseball prospect, there was a magazine that interviewed him and he talked about wanting to be a Yankee 😔
Yep. Most here assume that had the Yankees- or any team- offered the same (or more) that said FAs would go to their team. If that was the case, Judge would be a Giant now.
That being said, supposedly not making an offer on some of these FAs are just a big WTF.
That's why a lockout is likely. The way teams push young guys up and down to get an extra year and the arb years are going to be a big fight for the mlbpa.
There's a happy middle there where you keep it in luxury tax instead of salary cap, and give up years of basically free control and arbitration, instead with a scaling max pay for those years where the current team can match offers. The only folks who are going to promote a salary cap are the ones who don't treat their organizations as pride projects and instead as revenue streams. The majority of owners are going to want a salary cap especially with billionaires gaining ownership. It's going to be a shitshow.
Owning a sports team should be a vanity project where you want to prove to the world that you're a winner, not that you want to fund F1 teams and yachting teams.(Fuck Hal and every horse he's ever ridden)
The whole arbitration system is stupid because it's either one or the other, there's no middle ground and the idea of an arbitrator is generally stupid. I'm sure somewhere in the contract there's agreed upon arbitrators but why should one dude or lady get to be the decider on already repressed salaries compared to what they would command on the open market?
So teams get 3(4 and sometimes 5) years of basically free play and then severely limited salaries through arb because they fund minor league baseball to develop players? Yeah there's the Super rule or whatever that scales to the top paid players at the position if I'm not mistaken but it's still nowhere near what those players could get. You will lose parity with players becoming FA earlier but maybe owners should stop being cheap.
Congress has defended MLB numerous times but they should be a fair employer. Whether or not 30m a year is a fair salary for playing a game is irrelevant. Players are the product that is being sold and they shouldn't have to work at a severe deficit for years just because owners lose out on draft slot bonuses sometimes.
I know one that isn’t.
He’s right handed.
And plays the infield.
Considering after 2026 the only infielder left on the infield who can hit will be rice maybe they should consider a talent infusion for that group.
I don't mind $30m a year if the deal is short enough. 4 years would be great, 6 years is too long, 5 is a little uncomfortable but you could live with it. I just hope he's not at like 8 or something.
I have no idea where the people in this thread are getting their valuations from. Is he better than Pete Alonso? Is he better than Kyle Schwarber? Is he younger than both? Is he a better defender than both?
In what world does anyone think you're getting Bellinger for less than those 2 guys? In what world does anyone think Bellinger is getting less than 30M/yr?
Yeah and that’s why I said “go from there.” That’s the starting point. They should have been going after the better FA OF from the very beginning. Not too late, though
Well free agency isn’t fair. It is what it is. Worse and older players got more. If you be reasonable, you’ll come in second for every free agent (paraphrasing).
check the numbers. there’s a big gap between what the public thinks about Alonso and Schwarber, and what their actual numbers are.
Schwarbers WAR the last 3 years had been as low as 0.7 and as high as 4.7.
and Alonso has been consistent…ly trending downward. his career started with a 5 WAR season then a couple of ~4 WAR seasons, then a ~3 WAR season, down to ~2 WAR, until 2025 when he had a 3.4 WAR season.
not shitting on Schwarber and Alonso, just saying that this idea that their on some grand level higher than Belli is off.
WAR over-penalizes 1b/DH for defense. Matt Olson was the best defensive 1b in the league last year and fWAR still graded him as a net negative dWAR after position adjustment.
I believe you’re talking about Fangraphs DEF rating. to my understanding that’s not dWAR but instead Fan graphs own defensive run rating system. I think they use the numbers off of statcast or baseball savant can compare it to all fielders.
for what it’s worth I was using bbref which does use dWAR. Matt Olson dWAR is positive but Alonso’s is negative. whatever stat you use Alonso is bad defensively
He can look for 300 all he wants. As of this decade, Handing out 10+ year contracts are for all time greats only. Soto, Judge, Ohtani, Trout, Betts.
Unfortunately neither Tucker or Bellinger fit those molds. Neither will come even close to 300 million unless you have 7-8-9 teams vying for each. But I bet you have about 3-4 teams on each and nobody wants to go more than 6 for Bellinger while nobody wants to go more than 8 on Tucker
Vladdy is like 16 years old, and it’s still a massive overpay…reacting to the talk that he might walk and Schneider might’ve been fired in May with their slow start
Not gonna happen. Vladdy got that because he was home grown into Toronto and they love him. Tuckers not with his home franchise anymore and he will not sniff 300. He’ll be lucky to get 250
Vladimir got 500 because Toronto didn’t want him to go into free agency. That and his potential as a 24 yo free agent scared Toronto about losing their homegrown talent, they skipped the bidding war (and overpaid for him). Not even remotely comparable to Tucker who doesn’t really have loyalty to any team.
Why are you bringing up vladimir guerrero then lol, they’re not even remotely comparable. The most I can see tucker getting is 280, based on the rumors, teams are finding the 300+ price outrageous.
Shame that Cashman is obsessed with Volpe because moving on and getting Bichette instead could be a better play. Just promote Spencer Jones and use Jasson.
Bichette already said he’s moving to second so it doesn’t matter about volpe if they get bichette they have to figure out what to do with jazz and McMahon
This team isnt a Bellinger away from winning a championship, and its clear this will be the single move they make this winter if they do re-sign him, so im good.
Would be similar to the Bregman deal from a year ago. Offer a high AAV but shorter deal with opt outs and let them play for a longer term deal if they perform well again. wouldn't hate that tbh
because at worst it's $100 million in 3 years. I'm just going off the report it's $30m+ AAV which seems far steeper than I would have imagined, hence thinking there is some catch there
I'd say 5 years max and if not fuck it and get a bigger offer out to Tucker.
I get that Belli is "good" but he's not a game changing bat, just an overall really solid player.
We need offense (pitching obviously too but that's been more injury related).
I've been generally patient since this entire market/off-season had been slow but this is getting infuriating. Why are we putting all our eggs in the Belli basket when we literally had him on our team last year and didn't do shit.
The Yankees aleady owed Belli $25M for 2026 at his option so $30M aav was always going to be the number after him posting one of the best 2025 OF seasons in MLB.
The years are the problem. The Yankees want 4 - 5, Boras wants 7. Cashman should offer $180M over 6 years, perhaps with a 7th club option year and a small buyout. That's a reasonable compromise.
If the Mets, Cubs, or Dodgers swoop in and offer lots more then Belli should take it and the Yankees should move on.
You’re the Yankees. Go 3 years 130m. I know they won’t do it, but would be nice if we used our financial strength to not commit to bad long term contracts.
Theres no chance that the Mets , Dodgers, Jays, Red Sox, etc (big markets) are offering him more than this. Its wild he's not signed if this is true. Boras is truly a giant pain in the ass.
That’s typical boras for you. That’s a more than fair salary for bellinger. That puts him less than 10m AAV than judge who is the best player on the planet.
Any fan that wants to pay him this much is not allowed to complain about Brian Cashman ever again cause we already had this same situation with DJ Lemahieu. Everybody was demanding we give him a blank check and then a few years later wanted him cut and Cashman fired.
$30M/year is a gross overpay for Bellinger. I really like him as a player but he’s objectively a short porch merchant (check his home-away splits).
He shouldn’t have this much of leverage.
How many years? If it’s 5/150 that’s totally fair. Personally I would have gone the extra year for a lower AAV. 4 years? I don’t know what other suitors there are. Yanks certainly shouldn’t bid against themselves.
I meant the whole scenario after the 2009 season. The Yankees were only willing to go 2 years but boras insisted on 3-4. Damon I believe was 36 at the time.
The difference is the Yankees pivoted to Grandy when they weren’t willing to meet Damon and Boras’ demands. Damon wound up signing a one year deal with the tigers because nobody was giving him two years let alone three.
Ah, yes that makes sense. Not sure if there is anyone to pivot to on the trade market this time, but the Yankees certainly have leverage with Tucker still out there and Spencer Jones seemingly ready.
If the Yankees are leaking contract numbers, then that’s a bad sign. Probably means they have reached a standoff in negotiations and they want the fans to know they tried. The reports of them considering Bichette more seriously might actually be true.
The Yankees have two (previously) highly ranked prospects that can play a corner outfield spot and deserve a shot - why bog ourselves down with another contract we will inevitably have to buy out in year 4 or 5? Let the kids play and trade for an OF bat at the deadline or sign a depth piece like Austin Hayes, Mike Tauchman, Max Kepler as insurance.
In actual value, I don’t think Bellinger is really worth more that 25 AAV over 5 years, and the market rate is probably closer to 30 AAV when he signs for an unknown term.
Jones and Dominguez need to play or be traded, and Hays still hit .250 vs RHP and .262 on the road, so he can get the job done more than just a platoon against lefties.
Who else would offer more? The Mets seem allergic to long deals this offseason and the Dodgers are so stacked already, do they really feel like it’s worthwhile to give him like a 7 year contract and/or more than $30M a year? I just don’t understand why this is being dragged on so long
Aaron judge might go down as the best contract (for the team) in MLB history. Maybe I’m out of touch but no shot Bellinger is worse 30 mil a year for 6+ years
Everyone upset over 5 years or 6 or 7. What does it matter? The Yankees make money anyway. That is what sets the Dodgers away from the Yankees. They don’t care about a little extra salary or quibble over a year or 2 on a deal. Does Bellinger make you a better playoff team next season or 3? If that answer is yes, then who cares about fake money 5 years from now. You could buy him out or trade retaining some salary later if need be. They started last year without a 3rd baseman. Are we seriously going to start a season without a left fielder this year?
That’s absurd on Bellinger’s end. If the Yankees are offering at least 5 years at $30M/yr, that’s probably as good as he’s going to get. I like the guy and I’d go so far as 7 years, $168M ($24M AAV) but that’d be my absolute cap
He is not worth that….hes 31 years old already. I’m so sick and tired of the Yankees paying top premium money for a guy who is only going to decline in skill set. This is why we are always in terrible situations every off season, waiting for DJ and hicks type money to fall off
From Cody’s perspective he had to suck it up and accept the market determined he wasn’t as valuable as he thought when he settled for the short term deal from the cubs.
Then he showed he can still be a high level player in this league. He was extremely valuable in 25 & for a big market team. Fans recognized it, the team recognized it, time for a contract to reflect that.
I think there’s a good argument he deserves what he’s asking for, in the right market the right year he could’ve gotten it. Issue is this isn’t that year
The post-PED contract correction never happened and it’s super weird. Most players will become sub zero WAR after 32. It’s just the way the body works when you’re not on the special vitamins.
Cody wants 3 million less than Judge holy shit Boras has lost his mind. F it man just sign Bo and move Jazz back to CF. Atleast he’s 3 years younger and right handed
This must be coming to a head soon. Leaks have been crazy this week. And I have heard absolutely nothing about any other team being in on Belli to the degree the Yankees are either
Ya'll can't complain that the Yankees are wasting Judge's prime, AND complain that they are willing to overspend on talent.
We NEED Bellinger (or Tucker) in this lineup. And that just gets us back to where we were last year, which wasn't good enough. The team needs to spend, and if that means overpaying and taking advantage of this window, so be it.
Could've sworn 30/yr would've been the ceiling. More than that is a sign of desperation. Even if he does sign, I feel like a lot of people will hold a lot of resentment towards Cody if he even slightly under performs, he will never stop hearing the boos.
Man i think they are already fucked with that current offer lmao. Im only comfortable with belli if its in the 20-25m range. 30m+/per year is a huge overpay.
I'm fully on board with not going 7 years but purely devils advocate, what's the explanation for Alonso and Schwarber getting 30m aav into age 37 but not Belli?
Alonso and Schwarber are power hitters, even when their defense will suffer they will still be able to hit. (They are basically the Big G equivalent) but Bellinger’s largest upside is his defense. He has a good hitting strategy, but he’s another DJ. When his defense isn’t as good, he will be dead weight on the payroll
That contract is gonna age like milk. If Judge wasn't 34, I'd say this was a terrible idea. But we need a LF and we need another bat. Still, if Hal wants to be at or under $300 million, you're giving Bellinger 10% or more of your payroll and he's on the wrong side of 30. I hate this. If I wasn't so desperate for Judge to win a title, I'd be 100% against this.
He's super important but there has to be a point where enough is enough. You think the way he talked about wanting to be a Yankee his whole career and then enjoying playing there so much would be enough for him to say ":fair number, I'm in. Instead of listening to Boras and trying to squeeze every F'N penny out of the deal. I'm not suggesting he walks away from an extra 10 million or something. I'm just saying if they're close stop F'N around. It'll go a long way with the fans
Man boras sucks he's literally ruining free agency with greed Cody is a great player but c'mon this is insane. Yankees I have to say need to drop out of the deal and stand strong.
Better be a short ass deal at that AAV.
$30M already feels high, solid player but he’s on the wrong side of 30 with a skill set that ages poorly
most free agents are on the wrong side of 30
Since the start of Judge's prime, they have passed on at least four different superstars who were available in free agency and 27-years-old or younger. There are great opportunities in FA, they just choose not to take advantage of them
Not signing Bruce Harper when he was making it clear he wanted to be a Yankee was one of the biggest “what are we doing”moments of the cashman era
I really can’t think of a bigger screw up in free agency than that one. Just imagine what this team would have looked like with Bryce!
We had the chance to get Corey Seager and then Trea Turner but passed on both because of Volpe.
Also passed on Matt Olson for Volpe. That would’ve been an epic trade win.
I'm just so done with Volpe. He seems like a good dude but he shouldn't be playing SS for the Yankees. He never should have played SS for the Yankees. Maybe he has a place on another team but Cashman fucked this up so badly. And instead of just cutting him loose and moving on we're going to be stuck with him for years. Maybe his entire career.
Yeah this is the one that really stings, especially considering the extension costs vs Turner and Seager
Don’t forget Luis Castillo - Ms wanted Volpe. Yanks settled on dealing for Montas instead in order to keep Volpe
I could see not going after Seager with some of the health stuff. Not making a run at Turner was the one I really didn't understand.
Corey Seager bWAR in the last 4 seasons since he signed his contract: 23.2. Yeah, Yankees fucked up.
Corey seater played 52 and 95 games the two years before being a free agent. So while yes he has been really good his injury history was still an issue at the time.
Matt Olson’s is even higher since the Yankees passed on the trade.
21.9 bWAR for Olson in the last 4 years. So not quite as much as Seager but he has also played every game for the last 4 seasons, which would be pretty valuable to the Yankees.
Especially with how much we needed speed back then. Very unfortunate
And we still could have traded for Soto in 24 Imagine Soto judge Harper Stanton jazz
Too obvious!
Yup him or Machado. Complete fail. Cost us a WS or two IMO.
I have always been of the opinion that a professional at anything is better equipped to tell me how to do what they do than me. Almost to the point where I could be considered a Cashman apologist. He knows more about the business of baseball than me. Easy.
But when Harper AND Machado were begging to be Yankees and Cashman didn’t even sniff? That was hard for even me to justify. Tremendous fuck up that offseason.
Sucks both players wanted to come but I don’t think the FO wanted to pay Machado the 300mil he wanted, and the price tag on Harper too with judge and Stanton already on the roster and both playing outfield
Just you wait! Cashman is going trade prospects for him when he’s at 37-38 yo and we are going for a playoff push. The Alfonso Soriano/ichiro Suzuki/encarnacion deadline special acquisition.
Don’t you ever besmirch the name Alfonso Soriano in this home, you hear me?
I remember when he was a top high school or college baseball prospect, there was a magazine that interviewed him and he talked about wanting to be a Yankee 😔
Imagine having Bruce and Arson
Freddie Freeman at 6/$162m was such a bargain too but they opted for Rizzo because he is Aaron Judge’s friend
who's to say Freddie had any interest coming to NY?
He grew up an hour from Dodgers stadium
Yep. Most here assume that had the Yankees- or any team- offered the same (or more) that said FAs would go to their team. If that was the case, Judge would be a Giant now.
That being said, supposedly not making an offer on some of these FAs are just a big WTF.
Yanks didn’t even check in with him.
#most
That's why a lockout is likely. The way teams push young guys up and down to get an extra year and the arb years are going to be a big fight for the mlbpa.
Lockouts are initiated by the owners, not the players. A lockout is coming because the owners want more money
There's a happy middle there where you keep it in luxury tax instead of salary cap, and give up years of basically free control and arbitration, instead with a scaling max pay for those years where the current team can match offers. The only folks who are going to promote a salary cap are the ones who don't treat their organizations as pride projects and instead as revenue streams. The majority of owners are going to want a salary cap especially with billionaires gaining ownership. It's going to be a shitshow.
Owning a sports team should be a vanity project where you want to prove to the world that you're a winner, not that you want to fund F1 teams and yachting teams.(Fuck Hal and every horse he's ever ridden)
The whole arbitration system is stupid because it's either one or the other, there's no middle ground and the idea of an arbitrator is generally stupid. I'm sure somewhere in the contract there's agreed upon arbitrators but why should one dude or lady get to be the decider on already repressed salaries compared to what they would command on the open market?
So teams get 3(4 and sometimes 5) years of basically free play and then severely limited salaries through arb because they fund minor league baseball to develop players? Yeah there's the Super rule or whatever that scales to the top paid players at the position if I'm not mistaken but it's still nowhere near what those players could get. You will lose parity with players becoming FA earlier but maybe owners should stop being cheap.
Congress has defended MLB numerous times but they should be a fair employer. Whether or not 30m a year is a fair salary for playing a game is irrelevant. Players are the product that is being sold and they shouldn't have to work at a severe deficit for years just because owners lose out on draft slot bonuses sometimes.
Why Soto was such an outlier. Guys just never hit free agency that young.
I know one that isn’t. He’s right handed. And plays the infield. Considering after 2026 the only infielder left on the infield who can hit will be rice maybe they should consider a talent infusion for that group.
I don't mind $30m a year if the deal is short enough. 4 years would be great, 6 years is too long, 5 is a little uncomfortable but you could live with it. I just hope he's not at like 8 or something.
Honestly yeah, 150 million for 5 years should be the max for him, if he won’t accept that, go get Bitchette who is several years younger.
I mean he's younger and better than Pete Alonso and Pete just got 31 x5. It makes sense Belli wants more
Wrong side of 30? He’s literally 30 so do you just not want to sign any free agents ever because that’s around the age they become a free agent
Welcome to MLB free agency
Not to mention, this guy was non-tendered and salary dumped by two different contending teams in the last 5 years. Consistency is no sure thing.
Yankees shouldn’t offer a dime more in terms of AAV. They already fucked up going to $30 imo
Yeah, if true, this is getting ridiculous.
I have no idea where the people in this thread are getting their valuations from. Is he better than Pete Alonso? Is he better than Kyle Schwarber? Is he younger than both? Is he a better defender than both?
In what world does anyone think you're getting Bellinger for less than those 2 guys? In what world does anyone think Bellinger is getting less than 30M/yr?
Nah I think those 2 are better than bellinger. Obviously bellinger is the better defender, but those 2 put up better stats.
Also let’s not forgot it wasn’t that long ago bellinger was one of the worst players in the game. I worry about him going back to those years
Better than Schwarber? Maybe in the field, at the plate not a chance
Let's make this very simple:
2022: 2.3 v. 1.3
2023: 0.7 v. 4.8
2024: 3.5 v. 2.2
2025: 4.7 v. 5.1
Schwarber: 11.2 vs. Bellinger 13.4
Bellinger younger
Bellinger better in the field
Bellinger higher average (.226 v. .264)
Schwarber's only benefit: HOME RUNS
Our compromise was probably $30M at 5 years. Boras has been asking for 7 years.
They should go offer Tucker 6 years @ $35 mil/year and go back and go from there. No sense negotiating with a terrorist.
While I agree, if the AAV is in the $35M range, I imagine tuckers deal will be at least a 2 years longer than that.
Yeah and that’s why I said “go from there.” That’s the starting point. They should have been going after the better FA OF from the very beginning. Not too late, though
Yes, but for someone a year younger that's not necessary a bad thing.
don't forget way better too
35 for 6 is not gonna be enough to get tucker
“and go from there”
Boris is a fuck!!!!
that’s just where the market is tbh. Schwarber and Alonso both got $30M and $31M respectively and they’re both older than Belli.
I’m curious how many years the Yankees offered. 5/$150m would be fair in this market.
5 for 150 is more then fair!!
Well free agency isn’t fair. It is what it is. Worse and older players got more. If you be reasonable, you’ll come in second for every free agent (paraphrasing).
They are also far more consistent than Bellinger
check the numbers. there’s a big gap between what the public thinks about Alonso and Schwarber, and what their actual numbers are.
Schwarbers WAR the last 3 years had been as low as 0.7 and as high as 4.7.
and Alonso has been consistent…ly trending downward. his career started with a 5 WAR season then a couple of ~4 WAR seasons, then a ~3 WAR season, down to ~2 WAR, until 2025 when he had a 3.4 WAR season.
not shitting on Schwarber and Alonso, just saying that this idea that their on some grand level higher than Belli is off.
WAR over-penalizes 1b/DH for defense. Matt Olson was the best defensive 1b in the league last year and fWAR still graded him as a net negative dWAR after position adjustment.
I believe you’re talking about Fangraphs DEF rating. to my understanding that’s not dWAR but instead Fan graphs own defensive run rating system. I think they use the numbers off of statcast or baseball savant can compare it to all fielders.
for what it’s worth I was using bbref which does use dWAR. Matt Olson dWAR is positive but Alonso’s is negative. whatever stat you use Alonso is bad defensively
Agreed. This just means if he takes the contract they are done for the offseason and will pivot to trade deadline.
Facts
Ok, but then what? Pivot to Bichette? Tucker? There's not really any good alternatives that fit the team as well as Bellinger.
If you miss out on these three, you've just wasted potentially Judge and Cole's last elite prime years.
Yankees really giving into the demands. 30 million AAV is absurd for Bellinger unless it’s a 3 year deal which it’s not
Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber both got 5 years for 30M AAV.
Schwarber is a guarantee to pop 40-50 homers every year that’s why he’s paid that
Pivot to Tucker if he doesn’t want much more Edit: I meant if he doesn’t want much more yearly
LOL. He's looking for at least 300
He can look for 300 all he wants. As of this decade, Handing out 10+ year contracts are for all time greats only. Soto, Judge, Ohtani, Trout, Betts.
Unfortunately neither Tucker or Bellinger fit those molds. Neither will come even close to 300 million unless you have 7-8-9 teams vying for each. But I bet you have about 3-4 teams on each and nobody wants to go more than 6 for Bellinger while nobody wants to go more than 8 on Tucker
Tucker is going to get $300M. He'll be 29 on opening day and has been the 7th best qualified hitter in baseball since 2023 (by wRC+)
If Vladdy can get 500, Tucker can surely get 300.
We shall see
Vladdy is like 16 years old, and it’s still a massive overpay…reacting to the talk that he might walk and Schneider might’ve been fired in May with their slow start
Not gonna happen. Vladdy got that because he was home grown into Toronto and they love him. Tuckers not with his home franchise anymore and he will not sniff 300. He’ll be lucky to get 250
300 isn't 500
WE.....SHALL......SEE!!!!!!
Vladimir got 500 because Toronto didn’t want him to go into free agency. That and his potential as a 24 yo free agent scared Toronto about losing their homegrown talent, they skipped the bidding war (and overpaid for him). Not even remotely comparable to Tucker who doesn’t really have loyalty to any team.
once again, 300 isn't 500
His free agency would've been after this season, which was his age 26 season, not 24
Why are you bringing up vladimir guerrero then lol, they’re not even remotely comparable. The most I can see tucker getting is 280, based on the rumors, teams are finding the 300+ price outrageous.
cause if Vlad is worth 500, how is KT not worth 300.
I don't think either is worth those numbers regardless.
Ain't my money
Gross overpay
Sign Tucker instead at this point!
Its kinda getting to a point where im starting to feel content if he dosent come back
Honestly same.
Shame that Cashman is obsessed with Volpe because moving on and getting Bichette instead could be a better play. Just promote Spencer Jones and use Jasson.
I think I read somewhere that someone in the Yankees organization is a huge Bichette fan.
Whoever that is, I hope they’re pushing for it as hard as they can
Bichette already said he’s moving to second so it doesn’t matter about volpe if they get bichette they have to figure out what to do with jazz and McMahon
I want Belli as much as the next guy, but $30M per for more than 5 years is a big yikes
What the hell else does he want? lol
I saw he's looking for a 7 year deal
His mom needs a mink coat salary
Rather have Bichette and a platoon with Dominguez in left field than this disaster of a contract
Spend that on Tucker honestly. Or try and swing a trade for Kwan. Time to let Belli go
This team isnt a Bellinger away from winning a championship, and its clear this will be the single move they make this winter if they do re-sign him, so im good.
Boras really needs to read the room. This wont be the first time he overreaches and screws his client.
Belli is a grown ass man AND this is his 2nd time doing it, make no mistake this is also on Belli
Yep! At the end of the day, the PLAYER decides what’s best for them. The player’s signature ultimately goes on that contract. Not Boras.
Sadly the truth
Boras is a plague
That offer better be 3/100. That amount for long term is an awful contract on Beli.
Would be similar to the Bregman deal from a year ago. Offer a high AAV but shorter deal with opt outs and let them play for a longer term deal if they perform well again. wouldn't hate that tbh
Bellinger literally just completed a contract like that. Why would he sign another prove-it deal
because at worst it's $100 million in 3 years. I'm just going off the report it's $30m+ AAV which seems far steeper than I would have imagined, hence thinking there is some catch there
Sure but 2 years of that is already baked in, so the question is what maximizes Belli's future earnings:
Seriously, in a market where Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber got $150M, Bellinger is not settling for a 3-year deal at 60% of their contract value
Disgusting. Let him walk at this point.
Bruh if they do this we’re really fucked with money
Crazy how this guy is holding up our offseason. Move the fuck on. This guy isn’t Juan the asshole Soto.
I'd say 5 years max and if not fuck it and get a bigger offer out to Tucker.
I get that Belli is "good" but he's not a game changing bat, just an overall really solid player.
We need offense (pitching obviously too but that's been more injury related).
I've been generally patient since this entire market/off-season had been slow but this is getting infuriating. Why are we putting all our eggs in the Belli basket when we literally had him on our team last year and didn't do shit.
Idk why belli is so delusional lmfaoo
The Yankees aleady owed Belli $25M for 2026 at his option so $30M aav was always going to be the number after him posting one of the best 2025 OF seasons in MLB.
The years are the problem. The Yankees want 4 - 5, Boras wants 7. Cashman should offer $180M over 6 years, perhaps with a 7th club option year and a small buyout. That's a reasonable compromise.
If the Mets, Cubs, or Dodgers swoop in and offer lots more then Belli should take it and the Yankees should move on.
Not sure I go higher. If you want to, pivot to Tucker
This guy will not live up to the contract. Going to get hurt and last few years he'll stink
I think its "call me when you have a better offer" time.
Tell Boras to fuck off and pivot to Tucker. Just do it.
You’re the Yankees. Go 3 years 130m. I know they won’t do it, but would be nice if we used our financial strength to not commit to bad long term contracts.
walk away
He isn’t worth 30 plus Yankees abort mission …
No thank you
gross.
Theres no chance that the Mets , Dodgers, Jays, Red Sox, etc (big markets) are offering him more than this. Its wild he's not signed if this is true. Boras is truly a giant pain in the ass.
That’s typical boras for you. That’s a more than fair salary for bellinger. That puts him less than 10m AAV than judge who is the best player on the planet.
Any fan that wants to pay him this much is not allowed to complain about Brian Cashman ever again cause we already had this same situation with DJ Lemahieu. Everybody was demanding we give him a blank check and then a few years later wanted him cut and Cashman fired.
Jeez. More than 30 million is further than I thought they’d go honestly.
LOL get fucked
$30M/year is a gross overpay for Bellinger. I really like him as a player but he’s objectively a short porch merchant (check his home-away splits). He shouldn’t have this much of leverage.
How many years? If it’s 5/150 that’s totally fair. Personally I would have gone the extra year for a lower AAV. 4 years? I don’t know what other suitors there are. Yanks certainly shouldn’t bid against themselves.
This screams Johnny Damon all over again…
? Johnny Damon was good for us
I meant the whole scenario after the 2009 season. The Yankees were only willing to go 2 years but boras insisted on 3-4. Damon I believe was 36 at the time.
The difference is the Yankees pivoted to Grandy when they weren’t willing to meet Damon and Boras’ demands. Damon wound up signing a one year deal with the tigers because nobody was giving him two years let alone three.
Ah, yes that makes sense. Not sure if there is anyone to pivot to on the trade market this time, but the Yankees certainly have leverage with Tucker still out there and Spencer Jones seemingly ready.
Just go for Tucker and make some trades I don’t get this market tbh it’s really interesting how the Japanese players all got signed first lol.
If the Yankees are leaking contract numbers, then that’s a bad sign. Probably means they have reached a standoff in negotiations and they want the fans to know they tried. The reports of them considering Bichette more seriously might actually be true.
The Yankees have two (previously) highly ranked prospects that can play a corner outfield spot and deserve a shot - why bog ourselves down with another contract we will inevitably have to buy out in year 4 or 5? Let the kids play and trade for an OF bat at the deadline or sign a depth piece like Austin Hayes, Mike Tauchman, Max Kepler as insurance.
I support this take.
In actual value, I don’t think Bellinger is really worth more that 25 AAV over 5 years, and the market rate is probably closer to 30 AAV when he signs for an unknown term.
Jones and Dominguez need to play or be traded, and Hays still hit .250 vs RHP and .262 on the road, so he can get the job done more than just a platoon against lefties.
Already an overpay at that price. I liked Cody but pay someone else.
Who else would offer more? The Mets seem allergic to long deals this offseason and the Dodgers are so stacked already, do they really feel like it’s worthwhile to give him like a 7 year contract and/or more than $30M a year? I just don’t understand why this is being dragged on so long
Boras is exhausting.
the question is how much over $30M. he opted out of $27.5M, so this is pretty vague
Aaron judge might go down as the best contract (for the team) in MLB history. Maybe I’m out of touch but no shot Bellinger is worse 30 mil a year for 6+ years
Everyone upset over 5 years or 6 or 7. What does it matter? The Yankees make money anyway. That is what sets the Dodgers away from the Yankees. They don’t care about a little extra salary or quibble over a year or 2 on a deal. Does Bellinger make you a better playoff team next season or 3? If that answer is yes, then who cares about fake money 5 years from now. You could buy him out or trade retaining some salary later if need be. They started last year without a 3rd baseman. Are we seriously going to start a season without a left fielder this year?
I would much rather pay Tucker 40 a year for 8 than offer belli anything near 35 a year for 5
This is what happens when you have zero backup plan or depth. They honestly deserve this.
That’s absurd on Bellinger’s end. If the Yankees are offering at least 5 years at $30M/yr, that’s probably as good as he’s going to get. I like the guy and I’d go so far as 7 years, $168M ($24M AAV) but that’d be my absolute cap
I understand it's a business but, fuck Scott Boras.
He can walk for that amount
If this is true, let him walk.
Fuck that. Fuck Boras smh. Hope he gets a one year deal. All of his clients.
Time to move on from Cody.
Sign a better hitter in Bo and move him to 2nd
This is all way too much drama for a 4 WAR guy over 30.
He is not worth that….hes 31 years old already. I’m so sick and tired of the Yankees paying top premium money for a guy who is only going to decline in skill set. This is why we are always in terrible situations every off season, waiting for DJ and hicks type money to fall off
Hicks wasn’t paid top premium money…nor DJ really.
The yanks restrict themselves, when they didn’t have to. Those two contracts are small potatoes
If they offered 5yr 150 or around there and it’s still not moving him…please just move on. No one got time to play these games. That’s a great deal.
Time to move on.
Cody was a salary dump coming into 25. He got to hit behind judge during a historic season.
He’s valuable but I’d offer a slightly higher version of what he got from the cubs and call that generous. He doesn’t take it that day move on
It's not the player, it's the agent. Any person in their right mind would take 30 million a year to play a game. Agents create this chaos.
From Cody’s perspective he had to suck it up and accept the market determined he wasn’t as valuable as he thought when he settled for the short term deal from the cubs.
Then he showed he can still be a high level player in this league. He was extremely valuable in 25 & for a big market team. Fans recognized it, the team recognized it, time for a contract to reflect that.
I think there’s a good argument he deserves what he’s asking for, in the right market the right year he could’ve gotten it. Issue is this isn’t that year
Do you want to be a Yankee or not Cody?? C’mon!!
Why not just offer this kind of money to Kyle Tucker the better player?
The post-PED contract correction never happened and it’s super weird. Most players will become sub zero WAR after 32. It’s just the way the body works when you’re not on the special vitamins.
Looks like he was given the 5/155 final offer.
Time to move on.
Cody wants 3 million less than Judge holy shit Boras has lost his mind. F it man just sign Bo and move Jazz back to CF. Atleast he’s 3 years younger and right handed
Inflation, but either move is better than neither.
This must be coming to a head soon. Leaks have been crazy this week. And I have heard absolutely nothing about any other team being in on Belli to the degree the Yankees are either
7 years, get the fuck out of here. They should have pivoted from the beginning
Ya'll can't complain that the Yankees are wasting Judge's prime, AND complain that they are willing to overspend on talent.
We NEED Bellinger (or Tucker) in this lineup. And that just gets us back to where we were last year, which wasn't good enough. The team needs to spend, and if that means overpaying and taking advantage of this window, so be it.
$52m + on Bellinger and Grisham, fire Cashman please
I also hate scott boras. Such a bitch
How big of a Gap gift card does he want?
MOVE ON!!!
Move on Yankees...
when does the bubble burst on paying these players? seriously shit is getting absolutely out of control.
Could've sworn 30/yr would've been the ceiling. More than that is a sign of desperation. Even if he does sign, I feel like a lot of people will hold a lot of resentment towards Cody if he even slightly under performs, he will never stop hearing the boos.
Man i think they are already fucked with that current offer lmao. Im only comfortable with belli if its in the 20-25m range. 30m+/per year is a huge overpay.
I'm fully on board with not going 7 years but purely devils advocate, what's the explanation for Alonso and Schwarber getting 30m aav into age 37 but not Belli?
Alonso and Schwarber are power hitters, even when their defense will suffer they will still be able to hit. (They are basically the Big G equivalent) but Bellinger’s largest upside is his defense. He has a good hitting strategy, but he’s another DJ. When his defense isn’t as good, he will be dead weight on the payroll
Makes sense. If he can't play good defense the last year or two you're not getting much pop at the plate.
Works for me. Thanks!
Exactly. I think if he hadn’t gotten injured earlier in his career we’d be looking at something different here. But like he has an expiration date
The Phillies would gladly dump Harper’s salary to the Yankees!
That contract is gonna age like milk. If Judge wasn't 34, I'd say this was a terrible idea. But we need a LF and we need another bat. Still, if Hal wants to be at or under $300 million, you're giving Bellinger 10% or more of your payroll and he's on the wrong side of 30. I hate this. If I wasn't so desperate for Judge to win a title, I'd be 100% against this.
He's super important but there has to be a point where enough is enough. You think the way he talked about wanting to be a Yankee his whole career and then enjoying playing there so much would be enough for him to say ":fair number, I'm in. Instead of listening to Boras and trying to squeeze every F'N penny out of the deal. I'm not suggesting he walks away from an extra 10 million or something. I'm just saying if they're close stop F'N around. It'll go a long way with the fans
6/180 should make everyone happy
30/5 years is as far as we should go, pivot to Kwan. We don't need another DJ contract on the books.
$30m+ isnt ideal… hoping this signals less years
At this point, take it or leave it dude.
This is getting out of hand
30 for 7 seems crazy. Hard to blame the yanks on this one
30 for 7 with a $10m opt out for the Yankees after year 5 and year 6 seems like a good place for Belli to settle
Man boras sucks he's literally ruining free agency with greed Cody is a great player but c'mon this is insane. Yankees I have to say need to drop out of the deal and stand strong.
$30m/year is already a drastic overpay for a guy who's had injury issues his entire career.
Who the fuck does he think he is
We are going to end up with the same team as last year. What did that get us? HAL, SELL THE TEAM!
without Belli and Goldy this is not the same team as last year, it is much less of a team
Your right! I did not think last years was so great with both of them. There is absolutely not situational hitting.
Insane for this dude to even be offered 30m, and insane for him to not immediately accept because he’s thinking he can get more
I say fuck bellinger atp
Fuck Scott Boras.