Unlike Juan Soto, Cody Bellinger really wanted to be with Yankees
Cody Bellinger hits a double during the fourth inning of a game against the Yankees on Sept. 6 in Chicago. Credit: AP/Erin Hooley
Over the last three days, the Yankees welcomed Devin Williams, Max Fried and Cody Bellinger to their new professional lives in the Bronx.
If the loss of Juan Soto to the Mets still stings, the Yankees are doing a good job of moving on.
General manager Brian Cashman made a point of talking about how Fried, who signed on as a free agent, really wanted to be a Yankee.
“There was a lot of competition in the end, and he had choices of where he wanted to lay his head for the coming years ahead, and we’re excited that he wanted this opportunity,” Cashman said on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. “He wanted New York, he wanted to come here, and we’re excited to have him join what is already, we think, a very formidable rotation. So Max, welcome to the Bronx.”
Bellinger, whose father, Clay, was a Yankees reserve from 1999-2001, said on Thursday of getting traded to the Yankees from the Cubs: “Everything about it excites me.”
Bellinger and Williams (who was traded from Milwaukee) had no say in where they went. Fried did, and it was obvious at his Yankee Stadium news conference that putting on the pinstripes meant something to him in a way it never did to Soto, who stayed in New York but will play for the next 15 seasons in Queens, not the Bronx.
A lot has been made of why Soto chose the Mets over the Yankees. A free suite for his family. An alleged incident in which a Yankees security guard was rude to his kin. The Mets’ limitless future with Steve Cohen’s billions.
The fact that Soto admitted he hadn’t spoken one syllable or exchanged one text message with his Yankees teammates since the World Series was stunning. It helps fuel the notion that Soto was a baseball mercenary who was always going to sign with the highest bidder this offseason.
That’s OK, of course. Soto has the right to do whatever he wants with his prodigious talents. Something tells us if the most money had been offered by a team in Topeka, Soto would have stood at the podium and put on a jersey with a giant “T” on it and talked about his love for everything northeast Kansas.
Bellinger knows New York; he spent some time around the Yankees when his father was a small part of a three-time World Series club. His family lived with the family of Andy Pettitte, and Bellinger said he has fond memories — and plenty of camcorder videos taken by his mom — of his time as a pinstriped tyke dating to his father’s days as a minor-leaguer, when Cody was a bat boy.
Now? The 29-year-old 2019 NL MVP and lefthanded hitter is thrilled to get to play with Aaron Judge, to take aim at the short porch in right and to play either the outfield or first base (it’s Aaron Boone’s choice, Bellinger said).
What excites him the most?
“The organization, the fans, the stadium, the atmosphere,” he said. “I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about everything with the organization and in the clubhouse. I’m excited just to be a part of it. I’m excited to get to work and I’m excited to play baseball and play how I want to play. That’s the goal.”
Bellinger said he believes the 47-home run power he displayed in 2019 with the Dodgers is still “in the tank,” even though the most he’s hit since then was 26 in 2023.
Last season, Bellinger had a .266/.325./.426 slash line with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs. His OPS-plus (with a league average of 100) was 111.
Soto, the outfielder Bellinger is essentially replacing in the lineup, had an OPS-plus of 178.
So the Yankees still need more punch to replace the offense they lost when Soto headed over the Bronx-Whitestone (or Throgs Neck, depending on what Waze suggested).
The good news for the Yankees and their fans is that even after adding Williams, Fried and Bellinger, they still have about $500 million left over from the $760 million they were willing to offer Soto.
Who wants it?
Alex Bregman? Pete Alonso? Christian Walker? Anthony Santander? Bellinger’s emotional and positional flexibility (and Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s likely move back to second base) allows Cashman to continue searching for a first baseman, a third baseman and/or another outfielder.
And, perhaps most important after the Soto Snub — who really wants to be a Yankee? That still counts for something in the Bronx.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.