Yankees trade for Cubs OF Cody Bellinger as former MVP’s career takes another turn
One year after returning to the Cubs in free agency, Bellinger is on the move again, this time to the Yankees
The New York Yankees have their Juan Soto replacement — or at least a guy who can take Juan Soto’s place on the field.
The team swung a trade with the Chicago Cubs for 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger, it announced Tuesday, betting on a talented player to bounce back from a rough couple of years. The Cubs are also sending $5 million to the Yankees and will receive right-handed reliever Cody Poteet in return.
The cash will reportedly cover $2.5 million of Bellinger’s $27.5 million salary in 2025 and $2.5 million of either his 2026 salary or the buyout if he doesn’t exercise his player option. Per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Bellinger has been informed that he will play center field for the Yankees, with Aaron Judge moving to right after covering center for all of 2024.
Bellinger’s father, Clay, was part of the Yankees organization from 1999 to 2001. He’ll also be working with his wife’s ex, as Chase Carter, the mother of his two children, dated Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton in 2018 and 2019.
Soto’s record-setting contract with the New York Mets left the Yankees in dire need of a corner outfielder with enough pop to slide into the middle of the order. Bellinger could fit that bill and was available via trade due to his contract with the Cubs, which gives him player options for 2025 and 2026 that pay him a total of $52.5 million.
The move ends a two-year tenure for Bellinger with the Cubs, and it’s not a big surprise, given that the team was rumored to be shopping him even before it acquired Houston Astros star Kyle Tucker, who fills a similar role, in a blockbuster trade. Two years after starting with a clean slate in Chicago, Bellinger will once again try to reestablish his stardom with a new team.
Cody Bellinger’s career has been chaotic
Bellinger is one of many people for whom 2019 feels like a very long time ago.
By his third season in the majors, Bellinger was a 23-year-old MVP with the Los Angeles Dodgers and on track to sign the kind of mega-deal that young, offensively dominant outfielders are prone to landing. Per Baseball Reference’s calculations, he was worth 8.6 wins above replacement in his MVP season in 2019, a larger number than the career highs of Soto and Tucker.
Then he performed perhaps the costliest high-five in the history of baseball.
After hitting a game-winning home run in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS, Bellinger dislocated his right shoulder while celebrating with Kiké Hernández and was never the same after that. He dealt with shoulder injuries earlier in his career, but this one required surgery and presaged the worst year of his professional career.
Bellinger was legitimately unplayable in 2021 and only a little better in 2022, with his swing continuing to look off. Rather than pay him an arbitration salary likely in excess of $17 million, the Dodgers non-tendered him and let him hit free agency a year earlier than expected.
The Cubs opted to buy low on Bellinger with a pillow contract and were rewarded with a 2023 season that won him NL Comeback Player of the Year. His shoulder finally appeared to be healthy, or he at least found a way to work around the issue, as he hit .307/.356/.525 for his new team.
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