It's time Yankees fans close the door on Cody Bellinger-Kyle Tucker offseason debate

For whatever reason, Cody Bellinger isn't getting the attention he deserves right now. He might be the most underrated player in MLB at the moment as larger headlines consume the New York Yankees a couple weeks into June.

Bellinger might be having one of the most all-around productive seasons of any star out there. He's already registered 3.6 WAR in 66 games. He's hitting .272/.372/.469 with a 134 OPS+ and only 36 strikeouts. His defense, per usual, has been off the charts.

But wait, it gets better. He's still crushing lefty pitching to the tune of a .269 average and .828 OPS. He's as clutch as it gets, hitting .305 with 28 RBI with runners in scoring position. His average jumps to .321 (with an .887 OPS) in 2 out-RISP situations. In late and close games, he's hitting .343 with a .956 OPS.

He might not be slugging 20+ homers at the moment, but he's doing everything the Yankees need him to. He's stabilized the team on both ends of the ball and has only gotten better when the more productive hitters around him have slumped or missed time with injury.

Best of all? He's out-performing Kyle Tucker so badly that the Dodgers' investment looks beyond silly right now. Tucker is hitting .237 with a .714 OPS and 101 OPS+. He also hasn't been himself defensively. Now just imagine where the Yankees would be if they had swapped Belli for Tucker. In a ditch on the side of the road?

Cody Bellinger was always the better option for Yankees than Kyle Tucker

Chalk up another flex for Brian Cashman, who had received some criticism for the structure of Bellinger's contract. Though it aged well, nobody can deny that a $44.75 million tax hit for the slugger's salary the next two seasons seemed unnecessarily aggressive.

Additionally, many fans had debated all offseason long if the Yankees should've made a run at Tucker and let Belli walk so another team could pay him well into his 30s. When Tucker signed for four years and $240 million with LA, it was clear that was 1) never going to be a Yankees' pursuit and 2) incredibly stupid to even consider.

Those who wanted Tucker on the Yankees ignored how seamless of a fit Bellinger was in 2025. He revived his All-Star pedigree and proved to be essential. Not to mention, the Yankees desperately needed defensive versatility — not another inferior right fielder to displace Aaron Judge.

The evidence was there all along, too. Bellinger has always been the better player. Think about it. Even after a shoulder injury completely cratered his 2021 and 2022 seasons, he still has six more WAR than Tucker, who has never been the star focal point of any team he's played for. Bellinger, though surrounded by talent in LA, was far and away the team's best player from 2017-2019. Tucker was a supporting actor in Houston, fell apart in Chicago when he was tasked with being "the guy", and is now doing whatever he's doing in LA.

The Yankees chose correctly, and they would have done so even if the money was similar. Tucker was never a fit for New York. Cashman and the front office knew that and acted responsibly. Slow clap for them, and a thunderous round of applause for Bellinger living up to the deal.

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