This New York Yankees star has sent a strong message to penny-pinching owners around baseball.
New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger was certainly compensated handsomely this offseason, signing a five-year, $162.5 million contract to remain in the Bronx.
The Yankees have always been one of the most free-spending organizations in baseball, although in recent years, they have been criticized for being a bit more frugal than usual, especially in comparison to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers continued to break the bank this winter, adding Kyle Tucker on a four-year, $240 million deal. That's a gargantuan $60 million annually.
Los Angeles has certainly rubbed a whole lot of people the wrong way with its abundant spending, and there are many who feel that it's bad for baseball.
Sound familiar, Yankees fans?
Well, Bellinger — who spent the first six seasons of his big-league career with the Dodgers — doesn't see any issue with it and instead has more of a problem with other owners being a bit too stringent.
"I’m unsure how much teams make a year," Bellinger said, via Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. "I can’t really speak to the teams that don’t spend. I always lean on the side of — if I owned a team, I’m obviously super wealthy. You don’t get them at the dollar store. I imagine I would want to put the best product on the field for my fans. It’s how I imagine myself owning a team."
New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger. Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.You don't have to think long and hard about the organizations around baseball who aren't exactly spendthrift. If we're being honest, it's those clubs that represent more of a problem for the game than LA, so the idea of changing the rules just because the Dodgers are dominating the landscape seems silly.
"Just because one team is doing really good at it, I don’t think that means you change the whole dynamic of the game," Bellinger added.
Bellinger won an MVP award with Los Angeles back in 2019 and also captured a World Series title with the club in 2020.
Injuries derailed the latter few years of Bellinger's tenure in Hollywood, and in December 2022, he ultimately signed with the Chicago Cubs, where he would proceed to spend two seasons.
New York then acquired Bellinger in a trade with the Cubs last offseason.
Bellinger slashed .272/.334/.480 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI over 656 plate appearances during his debut campaign with the Yankees in 2025.
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