MLB News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Grading the Yankees' offseason after the Cody Bellinger trade

By Kevin Henry | Last updated Dec 17, 2024 6:41 PM ET

On Tuesday, the New York Yankees continued a busy stretch of rebuilding their roster by trading with the Chicago Cubs for Cody Bellinger.

After losing out to the New York Mets on the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the Yankees have been busy, with the Bellinger trade being the latest move. Also this month, the Yankees have signed starting pitcher Max Fried and made a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers, grabbing closer Devin Williams in exchange for starter Nestor Cortes and other considerations.

While the Yankees focused on pitching with their two big earlier December moves, bringing Bellinger on board gives New York a left-handed power threat to pair with Aaron Judge in the lineup. The deal will also benefit Judge in another way as Bellinger will reportedly take over in center field, moving Judge to right in a change the Yankees hope will prevent some of the wear and tear on the reigning American League Most Valuable Player.

Yes, the Yankees have been busy, and the moves are rumored to continue this offseason as MLB insider Bob Nightengale is predicting the Bronx Bombers will continue to add to the lineup at first base. Nightengale said the Yankees will sign either Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Santana or Christian Walker.

But that's for the future. Here's what the New York lineup could look like without any other additions than Bellinger.

Yankees 2025 potential lineup with the addition of Cody Bellinger, via @fangraphs pic.twitter.com/xdWRgZAjbR
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) December 17, 2024

It is clear that the Yankees still have work to do to boost the lineup, and the addition of a power-hitting first baseman to pair with Judge, Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton in the middle of the batting order would be a big plus as New York looks to return to the World Series.

For now, we'll grade the Yankees offseason as a B, and there are reasons for that.

On the pitching side, there are plenty of questions that exist about the health of Fried after the left-hander has missed time in each of the last two seasons with forearm issues, and giving out an eight-year, $218M deal is taking an expensive chance that those concerns are behind him.

However many concerns there may be with the future of Fried, there is that much confidence in what Williams can bring to the bullpen. A two-time National League Reliever of the Year, Williams has the skills and mindset to succeed in the Bronx, according to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

With Bellinger, the Yankees believe they have landed the hitter who posted an OPS of .815 during his two years with the Cubs rather than the struggling former National League MVP who posted an OPS of just .648 between 2020-22. Will he live up to those expectations?

New York's aggressiveness after losing out on Soto has been apparent, but are they the right moves? On paper, for now, it's a very good start toward reloading for 2025.

Kevin Henry

A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), Kevin Henry has been covering MLB and MiLB for nearly two decades. Those assignments have included All-Star Games and the MLB postseason, including the World Series. Based in the Denver area, Kevin calls Coors Field his home base, but travels throughout North America during the season to discover the best stories possible

More must-reads: