A significant amount of offseason discussion surrounding the New York Yankees questioned the strength of the team’s offense moving forward without Juan Soto.
And it’s not as if the concern was unwarranted, given the MVP-level numbers that Soto has put up in his young career.
“If you’re Aaron Boone, how are you going to reshape the top of the lineup now that Juan Soto is gone?” wondered Ryan Garcia of the Fireside Yankees podcast at the start of spring training.
But David Adler of MLB.com suggested in a recent article that the Yankees went a long way toward offsetting the absence of Soto with an offseason acquisition of their own. While going around the league to highlight “15 Spring Training stat lines that matter for 2025,” Adler pointed to the numbers put up by Bellinger, who entered Sunday’s game with a slash line of .400/.444/.680/1.124, including three home runs, five doubles and seven RBIs.
“If the Yankees are going to make up for the loss of Juan Soto, Bellinger’s going to have to lead the way. What he’s doing in Spring Training is a good start,” Adler wrote. “His stats are backed up by a 93.1 mph average exit velocity coupled with a swing-and-miss rate under 20% and a strikeout rate under 13%. Plus, his three home runs have all been pulled to right field, just like the vast majority of his homers in 2024. He’s going to love the Yankee Stadium short porch.”
New York Acquired Former MVP Cody Bellinger From Cubs
On December 17, about a week after Soto signed with the New York Mets, the Yankees traded right-hander Cody Poteet to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Bellinger and cash considerations. Sources would later indicate that the Yankees received $5 million to offset Bellinger’s contract, which had two years and $52.5 million remaining, including a $25 million option for 2026 that can be bought out for $5 million.
“He’s someone that wants to be here,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “I’ve been hearing it for a long time, including his agent Scott Boras saying, ‘Can you get him over here? He’s driving me crazy. He wants to be a Yankee.’ That’s not why I did it; ultimately, I did it because it’s a fit.”
And not just offensively, although Bellinger’s left-handed swing should work nicely at Yankee Stadium. The 29-year-old Bellinger, who was named the National League MVP in 2019 while with the Dodgers, hit 44 home runs with 175 RBIs and 29 stolen bases during his two seasons in Chicago. Over his eight seasons in the league, Bellinger has posted a .259/.334/.484 slash line (120 OPS+), with 186 doubles, 196 homers and 597 RBIs.
“I really believe he’s going to play up offensively in our yard, and I think we’re getting a great person to add to the room,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Cody Bellinger Could Impact Yankees Even More on Defense
However, Bellinger will likely have an even bigger impact on the Yankees defense. A Gold Glove winner at right field in 2019, Bellinger has played most of his games in center field since 2020, where he would be an upgrade over Aaron Judge, while moving Judge into right field would be an improvement over Soto. And as an added bonus, Bellinger also has experience playing first base.
“[Bellinger is] a very good fit because it allows us a lot of flexibility,” Cashman said. “He’s an above-average athlete. He’s an above-average defender at first, above-average defender in the outfield. He can run the bases extremely well, and his swing is built for Yankee Stadium.”
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