Trade Details: New York Yankees acquire OF/1B Cody Bellinger and cash from Chicago Cubs for RHP Cody Poteet

The Yankees needed another hitter after Juan Soto’s departure, and they got it for less, so to speak, by trading a backup arm to the Cubs and taking on about 90 percent of Bellinger’s remaining contract. Bellinger makes the Yankees slightly better, but I don’t think he does enough to answer their lineup questions, and he could end up pushing their best prospect – Jasson Domínguez – out of his best position.

If I were in the Yankees’ shoes, I would have preferred to acquire Seiya Suzuki, whose OBP skills would be a perfect fit for a Yankees lineup that will have serious trouble getting guys on base. Among the Yankees currently on their roster, Aaron Judge is the only one who had an OBP over .324 last year and the only one who had an OBP over .319 against left-handed pitchers. Bellinger’s OBP was .325 last year, just slightly below his career OBP of .334, and his OBP against lefties in 2024 was just .305 (career .321). This adds him to a lineup that will already have at least left-handed starters at second base (Jazz Chisholm, Jr.) and catcher (Austin Wells) – as well as the switch-hitting Domínguez, who hits much better as a left-handed hitter – solves none of their main offensive problems.

Trading for Suzuki in place of Bellinger would also have allowed the Yankees to keep Domínguez at his natural position in center field. It appears they intend to play Bellinger in the middle, although he is just an average defender there, and move Domínguez to the left, where he will be a plus defender at some point but struggles in his first outing there in 2024 had. They could also use Bellinger at first base, where he’s still up, and move Domínguez back to center, assuming they miss out or refuse to add one of the remaining free-agent first basemen, like Christian Walker sign, or decide to sign outfielder Teoscar Hernández instead.

Bellinger’s ability to play center and first base gives the Yankees the flexibility to sign either another outfielder or a first baseman. (Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Bellinger has passing power and as a left-handed hitter he could hit a few extra home runs from short right field at Yankee Stadium. His pull percentage was actually a career-low 40.5 percent last season, which is still above the MLB average, and I expect the Yankees will encourage him to match his higher pull rates from previous years to return. Even his relatively low 2024 home run total of 18 would rank third among returning Yankees, behind only Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

However, I’ve somewhat buried the caveat here, which is that the Yankees got Bellinger for free. They traded Cody Poteet, a 30-year-old right-hander who was a relief pitcher by FanGraphs’ WAR, which in his case is probably more accurate than bWAR since he has allowed a .237 BABIP and a .302 BABIP in the majors allowed in Triple A. (That said, he was very lucky in the majors, because his time in Triple A shows that he has no special ability to hit balls in play limit, which would help him maintain such a low Major League BABIP in the future.)

The Yankees will actually receive $2.5 million each of the next two years from the Cubs, so they’ll pay Bellinger $25 million this year and $22.5 million in 2026 if he doesn’t opt ​​out. (If he opts out, the two clubs will split his $5 million buyout.) That’s a bit much for his 2.2 WAR performance last season, but a bargain if he returns starting in 2023 achieved his 4.4 WAR performance. I can talk all day about how Suzuki was a better fit for them, but he also would have cost them a little more in terms of talent or top young players than Bellinger.

I’d be a lot more unhappy if the Cubs lost some salary if they hadn’t just made a big move for Kyle Tucker, and if that makes them more likely to trade for or sign a No. 2 starter, all the better . The Cubs owner shouldn’t cry about poverty, but if moving Bellinger — a good but ultimately unnecessary player on this Cubs roster that probably still has more outfielders than they can play with — makes the addition of an extra arm possible , I’m good with it.

The Cubs need another arm’s edge over their stable of back-end starters, including Jameson Taillon (who returned to 2.2-2.3 WAR last year), the forever underrated Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown (from which I think he probably is). better suited for the bullpen). Like their lineup before the Tucker trade, they put together a really good rotation of 2-3 WAR starters. Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga had exactly 3.0 fWAR last year, although Steele is better when fully healthy. They need a better starter up front, whether in front of or directly behind Steele.

The budget flexibility they just regained by trading Bellinger should go directly to pitching — not Tom Ricketts’ pocket.

(Top photo by Bellinger: Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)