Everything that's wrong with the Yankees revealed itself with Cody Bellinger contract

We'll preface this by saying the New York Yankees are not cheap. They always have one of the top payrolls in the game. They always employ some of the top names in MLB. Anybody who says otherwise is simply ragebaiting.

But the complaints begin to mount when Brian Cashman and the front office misallocate funds and then allow those mistakes to hold them back in other ways. Look no further than the Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson, Anthony Rizzo and Carlos Rodón contracts/deals.

For as much as fans criticize Hal Steinbrenner, the reality is that he doesn't have endless pockets. And his commentary about not needing a $300+ million payroll to win a World Series isn't all that farfetched. In fact, a GM who is better at identifying better high-profile expenditures would be able to accomplish that for him.

For whatever reason, though, Cashman seems to have a lifetime contract with his current deal. He'll get to choose when he exits and what his next position will be when the time comes. It's just a reality fans need to cope with. It's not changing.

But if Steinbrenner truly wanted a reason to shake things up in the front office, he should look no further than what just transpired with Cody Bellinger ... another player in a contract year who became essential to the Yankees' fabric and couldn't be denied the amount of money the market was commanding.

It was a price the Yankees clearly didn't want to pay, either, if we're to believe Jon Heyman's recent reporting. The MLB insider revealed the Yankees opened the negotiations with a three-year, $75 million offer — a pay decrease for Bellinger and a disrespectful short-term offer for a guy entering his age-30 season. And yet ... AND YET the Yankees somehow ended up torpedoing their entire payroll.

How do you go from that paltry and pathetic of an offer to allowing Bellinger to become a $48 million luxury tax hit in 2026? They went from trying to play the bully to getting bullied into oblivion. The Yankees also essentially got the short-term contract they so desired ... just on Bellinger's terms.

Yankees tried to bully Cody Bellinger...until they got bullied instead

The five-year, $162.5 million contract will pay Bellinger $85 million in the first two years and then he will have the power to opt out if he pleases. He'll either determine that a $25 million AAV after the 2027 season is worth his while or if he should test the open market again. And the only way he'll opt back in is if his play is declining ... at which point the Yankees will be getting the short end of the stick since they'll have to pay $75 million for a fading talent.

Bellinger's tax hit will also make this year's Yankees' payroll the largest in franchise history. Though there are plenty of stars on this roster, and even accounting for inflation, does it feel like the group on paper reflects that? We say "absolutely not", and we feel a number of other fans would be on board with that sentiment.

The Yankees have called it quits on plenty of pursuits in the past to avoid hitting such spending heights, but because of the corner they backed themselves into with poor investments and imperfect fits, Bellinger pretty much became a necessity and was able to all but officially name his price ... after the Yankees tried to get him for a bottom-of-the-market rate.

Forgive us, but it continues to make less and less sense as the years go by, and somebody will end up writing a 1,000-page book on the failed escapades if Aaron Judge doesn't have a World Series ring when all is said and done.