Around the Empire: Yankees make formal offer to Cody Bellinger

MLB Trade Rumors | Anthony Franco: After maintaining for months that he was their primary free agent target, the Yankees have officially tendered a contract offer to Cody Bellinger. Keeping him in pinstripes became their principal objective after he proved he was a fit at the plate, at all three outfield positions, in the clubhouse and playing in New York in 2025. With Trent Grisham back in the fold on the qualifying offer along side two-time defending AL MVP Aaron Judge, a reunion with Bellinger would fill the remaining outfield void. In 152 games in 2025, Bellinger slashed .272/.334/.480 with 29 home runs, 98 RBIs, a 125 wRC+ and 4.9 fWAR.

Yahoo! Sports | Matthew Schmidt: Earlier in the week, we reported that the Yankees were one of several teams to recently check in with Bo Bichette’s camp and now we have further sources reporting the same. Appearing on an episode of First Up, Buster Olney relayed that the Yankees were keeping in touch with Bichette’s representatives and consider him as a fall back option to reinforce the offense should they fail to re-sign Bellinger. Olney also relays that the Blue Jays remain the most aggressive suitors for Kyle Tucker — the jewel of this winter’s class of position players whom the Yankees also consider a backup option to their pursuit of Bellinger.

MLB.com | David Adler: Now that it appears the Yankees are indeed running it back with the outfield, a heap of responsibility falls on Grisham’s shoulders to repeat the career-year he had in 2025. He looks well-equipped to do so given the mechanical changes he implemented to take advantage of the dimensions of Yankee Stadium. He saw one of the biggest jumps in his pulled fly ball rate of any hitter in baseball, and he finished as one of seven left-handed hitters with at least 25 pulled home runs last season as well as seventh on the outfielder home run leaderboard with a career-high 34.

MLB Trade Rumors | AJ Eustace: With all of the impact free agent relievers off the board, the Yankees will likely have to turn to internal options to fill out the major league bullpen. It’s a thinned out unit following the departures of Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Jake Cousins, Scott Effross, Mark Leiter Jr., Ian Hamilton, Jonathan Loaisiga and Allan Winans to free agency, non-tender, or release. David Bednar, Camilo Doval, and Fernando Cruz form a formidable trio at the end of games and Tim Hill is a dependable lefty specialist while Jake Bird is more of an unknown. Brent Headrick emerged as another viable lefty option, Cade Winquest is a Rule 5 Draft selection, Yerry De los Santos had success in short stints, and Elmer Rodriguez and Chase Hampton were added to the 40-man roster for Rule 5 protection.

New York Daily News | James O’Connell: Speaking of Rodriguez, there are voices in the organization who believe he will be the next top prospect to impact the big league rotation. He dominated across three levels in 2025, finishing as Baseball America’s Yankees’ Minor League Player after tallying the second-most strikeouts (179) of any minor league pitcher. He throws a fastball that touches the upper-90s along with a curveball, slider and splitter, and is being touted as potentially the next Cam Schlittler to emerge from the farm. Most likely, he will begin the season at Triple-A, but a strong showing as a spring non-roster invitee could vault his name to the front of the queue for an in-season call-up.