Cody Bellinger trade pushes Yankees to projected $286M tax payroll and secures 3rd highest spot in MLB (Imagn)
The New York Yankees officially traded for outfielder Cody Bellinger on Tuesday. The former Chicago Cubs star lands in the Bronx for the remaining two years (one of them is an option year) on the contract he signed last offseason. It was a fairly lucrative contract, one signed after a return to form in 2023.
However, he regressed a little bit in 2024, making his contract too expensive and thus forcing the Cubs to trade him for Cody Poteet, a 29-year-old reliever who doesn't have 100 MLB innings in his career.
They're also paying $5 million to the Yankees, so that does help offset some of the financial burden being taken on by New York. However, it still pushes their payroll higher.
