As Cody Bellinger’s free agency lingered, the outfielder began to wonder if he would return to the Yankees, the outcome that just about everyone predicted when the offseason began.
“There were days that I was unsure,” Bellinger said over Zoom on Thursday… as he made his first public comments since signing a five-year, $162.5 million deal with the Bombers.
In the end, the likeliest scenario came to fruition. It just took a little more time than expected, as well as a few sweeteners in a contract that fell short of the seven-year term that Bellinger and his agent, Scott Boras, pushed for.
Among the perks: Bellinger has the ability to opt-out after the second and third years of his deal. Already a good get, there’s also a twist to those opt outs, as Bellinger can push them back to 2028 and 2029 if a potential work stoppage wipes out the 2027 season.
A source familiar with the matter told the Daily News that such language “is not standard” in other contracts that have been signed this offseason, nor has such language been standard in past offseasons that preceded anticipated work stoppages.
While the source wouldn’t specify if any other player has signed a contract with such language this offseason, it appears Bellinger has a unique clause in his deal with a showdown looming over baseball’s economics. At the center of the sport’s latest labor fight is the matter of a salary cap, something owners have always craved and players have staunchly stood against.
With the current Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 1, commissioner Rob Manfred and owners are set to fight for a cap again (Yankees boss Hal Steinbrenner supports a cap, so long as there is a salary floor). Players and the Major League Baseball Players Association have already made their opposition known, just as they always have. Hence, the industry is bracing for a work stoppage that could possibly last longer than the one that saw owners lock players out for just over three months from late 2021 to early 2022.
While that dark cloud hangs over the game, the 30-year-old Bellinger will enter the 2026 season as baseball’s fifth-highest paid outfielder in terms of his $32.5 million average annual value. He trails Kyle Tucker ($60 million), Juan Soto ($51 million), Aaron Judge ($40 million) and Mike Trout ($35.5 million).
Bellinger’s new deal also came with a $20 million signing bonus, another nice add-on with fears of a work stoppage swirling. With $32.5 million salaries in the first two years of the contract, Bellinger, who also received a full no-trade clause, will make $85 million before he has the chance to opt out.
With no deferrals in the pact, Bellinger will make $25.8 million in 2028 and 2029 and $25.9 million in 2030.
Because Bellinger’s new contract is so frontloaded, among some other factors triggered by the current CBA, he is going to cost the Yankees $48.55 million for competitive balance tax purposes in 2026, the aforementioned source confirmed. With that so-called “valley charge” in mind, FanGraphs and Cot’s Contracts now project the Yankees’ 2026 CBT payroll to be over $330 million, a franchise record.
Cot’s has the club at $335.5 million.
The New York Post’s Joel Sherman first reported Bellinger’s enormous tax hit, which was also inflated by his choice to opt out of his previous deal and by the Cubs’ decision to include money when they traded the veteran to the Yankees in a salary dump last offseason.
