It seemed inevitable that Cody Bellinger would end up in pinstripes — the Yankees and Cubs intensified trade talks when Juan Soto signed with the Mets. Things became even more certain when the Northsiders acquired Kyle Tucker from the Astros, creating a logjam in the outfield and making Bellinger’s substantial 2025 salary all the more of a priority to get off the books. As with most things in life, it came down to money, and on Tuesday the two sides finally reached an agreement.

While he will likely never match the successes of his 2019 MVP campaign in LA, Bellinger offers a significant improvement over some of the hitters the Yankees fielded near the bottom of their rankings in 2024 and recently posted a 4.4-win season in 2023. It There were questions about what position Bellinger would play before the deal was officially announced — he split time between the outfield and first base the past two seasons — but that uncertainty appeared to be resolved to be in bed minutes after the trade was announced (though Aaron Boone later dismissed the idea of ​​a final decision).

As Josh noted in his article yesterday, this is a win-win situation for the Yankees from a positional perspective, assuming Bellinger actually stays at center. He’s a superior defender than Aaron Judge out there. This allows the captain to slide back to the right, allowing his cannon arm to move upward while also covering less ground to cover over the course of a season.

It’s important that the Yankees made this positional decision so early. This allows Jason Domínguez to spend his winter getting reps in left field. El Marciano made a few high-profile mistakes on the left side at the end of last season – for which he was somewhat unfairly criticized given his limited preparation time – and cost him a spot in the postseason lineup. Now that he can focus solely on learning a new position in the offseason should allow him to start the season doing what he does best: hitting the baseball.

The Yankees sent Cody Poteet to the Cubs, and Chicago donated $5 million — $2.5 million each to be paid in 2025 and 2026 — to complete the deal. That brings us to the tricky part – determining exactly what impact this deal will have on the Yankees’ payroll. When a player is traded, you typically take the remaining guaranteed money and divide it by the remaining guaranteed years to calculate the Average Annual Value (AAV), which affects the team’s Competitive Balance Tax (CBT).

After that math, if we add Bellinger’s $27.5 million salary for 2025 to his $25 million player option for 2026 and the $5 million buyout, minus the $5 million the Cubs are eating, Adding them up, we get $52.5 million divided by two, which equals an AAV of $26.25 million. However, various other sources report different values ​​for Bellinger’s CBT success in 2025, as the nature of the option introduces somewhat complicating factors. Baseball Prospectus’ Baseball Contracts feature lists Bellinger’s CBT figure at $26,666,667, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post states that for 2025 it is $25.46 million.

The average of these three values ​​is just over $26 million. For simplicity, we’ll use this $26 million figure to determine where payroll stands. According to FanGraphs’ Roster Resource, this means the Yankees’ payroll will rise to over $289 million in 2025. That leaves them with just under $12 million to spend before they cross the fourth and final CBT threshold – the “Steve Cohen tax” – every dollar spent would be taxed at a rate of 110 percent.

With the outfield finally fleshed out, the Yankees still have two glaring holes on the right side of the infield. They remain linked to Christian Walker and have contacted Alex Bregman’s camp. By adding a third baseman, they were able to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to his more natural position at keystone. However, making either of these additions, let alone both, would push the payroll beyond the most punishable tax limit, something principal owner Hal Steinbrenner has repeatedly expressed opposition to.

Therefore, the Yankees will have to make every effort to fill the remaining vacancies on the roster unless the owner changes his tune. If someone like Walker, Bregman or one of the other remaining free agents comes on board, the Yankees may have to negotiate a trade with some other guys on their roster to make room in the CBT equation. You still have two months until pitchers and catchers report. So while we may have to wait for clear answers, they have time to evolve.