A lot changed in the free-agent market over the past 24 hours and might change again in the next 24 the way things are going. Kyle Tucker, whom the Mets thought they were getting, is a Dodger. Bo Bichette is now a Met. And Cody Bellinger, with a B, might still be a Plan B for both New York teams, and here’s why:
The Mets still need another outfielder who can hit. The Yankees need a hitter like Bellinger to provide the same sort of protection for Aaron Judge that Juan Soto did before Soto was the free agent leaving the Yankees for the Mets.
Put it another way: The Mets, even taking a big swing with Bichette, a Blue Jays shortstop about to become a third baseman for the Mets -- we’ll see how that fits with general manager David Stearns’ vision for better run prevention next season at Citi Field -- may still want Bellinger. He continues to make a lot of sense for them now that they’ve lost Pete Alonso’s bat and also Brandon Nimmo’s.
But the Yankees’ circumstances haven’t changed. They need Bellinger even more, even though it’s been reported that his agent, Scott Boras, is looking for a seven-year deal and sources say the Yankees aren’t moving off five. We may be about to find out -- maybe as quickly as the Mets moved on Bichette after Tucker ended up heading to Los Angeles the way Edwin Díaz already had -- if the Yankees’ thinking on all this might change if the Mets do get involved.
All we know for certain, with Tucker and Bichette off the board, is that Bellinger is the biggest piece left on it. And there is at least still a chance there could be a version of the kind of overheated bidding war we got when the Mets and Yankees fought over Soto. Nothing like it had ever happened before with a star free agent like this, not with the Yankees and the Mets.
Ironically enough, it was the Dodgers who just did the same thing to the Mets with Tucker that the Mets did to the Yankees last winter with Soto. The Yankees went as big as they ever had with their offer to Soto and thought it would be enough. The Mets thought their reported offer for Tucker -- averaging out to $55 million a year -- would blow everybody else out of the water until the Dodgers did a Dodgers thing and won the day with an offer that averaged out to $60 million a year.
So Bellinger was still out there on Friday once Bichette came off the board. Bellinger is still a terrific and versatile player, with something on his résumé that even Soto didn’t have last winter: He’s an MVP. And just because everything seems to run through Los Angeles these days -- including the Commissioner’s Trophy -- it’s worth noting that Bellinger won his MVP when he was still a Dodger (2019).
The Yankees have made it clear since the season ended just how much they would like to retain Bellinger’s services -- as a hitter, as a fielder, even as a teammate. In all of the important ways, and with Soto in another baseball borough in New York, Bellinger was the Yankees’ second most valuable player in 2025, after Judge. He ended up with 29 home runs and 98 RBIs, and he played 152 games. If he didn’t provide as much batting-order protection as Soto had the year before, he provided more than enough for the Yankees to want him back.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman has spoken repeatedly about what a “great fit” Bellinger was -- and still could be -- for his team. But then Cashman frequently had added this: “He’d be a great fit for anybody.”
Again: Cashman has made no secret about how much he wants Bellinger back in pinstripes. He has also just seen with Tucker what everybody in baseball saw on Thursday night: That sometimes the amount you’re willing to spend has to change when it comes to somebody you not only want but need.
The Dodgers keep stockpiling talent and spending money because, as talented as they are, they know what the margins are like in baseball, and I’m not talking about profit margins. They nearly didn’t make it past the Padres in October 2024. And they came as close as you can to losing Game 7 to the Blue Jays in October 2025 before they didn’t. It’s why they keep coming the way they do.
The Mets needed to do something after they lost Tucker. They’ve done something with Bichette, but they still need to do more after the way last season ended for them. Maybe the next move belongs to the Yankees. You know why? Because for them, Plan A and Plan B is still Cody Bellinger.