The New York Yankees have their Juan Soto replacement — or at least a guy who can take Juan Soto’s spot on the field.

Accordingly, the team completed a trade with the Chicago Cubs for former MVP Cody Bellinger on Tuesday ESPN’s Jeff Passanbet on a talented player getting back on his feet after a difficult few years. The Cubs are also sending cash to the Yankees in exchange for right-hander Cody Poteet.

Bellinger’s father, Clay, was part of the Yankees organization from 1999 to 2001.

Soto’s record-breaking contract with the New York Mets left the Yankees in desperate need of a corner outfielder with enough clout to slide into the middle of the field. 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 will 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 considering the team was rumored to be shopping for him in a blockbuster trade even before acquiring Tucker, who fills a similar role . Two years after starting a clean sheet in Chicago, Bellinger will once again try to re-establish his stardom with a new team.

Cody Bellinger’s career was chaotic

Bellinger is one of many people for whom 2019 feels like a very long time.

In his third season in the majors, Bellinger was a 23-year-old MVP with the Los Angeles Dodgers and well on his way to signing the mega-deal that young, offensively dominant outfielders love to get. According to Baseball Reference’s calculations, he was worth 8.6 wins above replacement in his 2019 MVP season, a higher number than the career highs of Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Tucker.

Then he gave perhaps the most expensive high five in baseball history.

After Bellinger hit a game-winning home run in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS, he dislocated his right shoulder while celebrating with Kiké Hernández and was never the same afterward. He struggled with shoulder injuries early in his career, but this required surgery and heralded the worst year of his professional career.

Bellinger was legitimately unplayable in 2021 and only marginally better in 2022 as his momentum continued to fade. Instead of paying him an arbitration salary likely over $17 million, the Dodgers did not tender him and let him hit free agency a year earlier than expected.

The Cubs then decided to acquire Bellinger cheaply with a cushion contract and were rewarded with a 2023 season that earned him NL Comeback Player of the Year honors. His shoulder finally appeared to be healthy, or at least he found a way around the problem, hitting .307/.356/.525 for his new team.

Bellinger then decided to test free agency with his value partially restored, but suitors were slow to match his asking price. He was one of four big-name clients of mega-agent Scott Boras whose free agency extended into spring training, and the result was a worse-than-expected three-year, $80 million contract to return to the Cubs.

The deal includes exit options after both the first and second years, so Bellinger was effectively setting himself up for another free agency as soon as he had another good season. That didn’t happen in 2024 as his numbers declined across the board, Bellinger opted into the second year of his contract, and his contract became a bit of a problem for the North Siders.

And so they decided to escape Cody Bellinger’s wild ride by trading him. At 29, Bellinger should theoretically have a few more years to find his swing again, but it’s worth wondering how old his shoulder really feels at this point.