Latest bad news on Yankees-Cody Bellinger talks deserves a cold dose of reality

Monday's live stream with MLB insider Jon Heyman, one week out from the Winter Meetings, was peppered with questions from desperate baseball fans. It's possible that no one is more desperate for success than New York Yankees fans facing a 16-year drought, but the urgency isn't quite there this offseason. There's no Aaron Judge, who must be retained and named captain ... or else. There's no Juan Soto, weighing $700+ million offers from the Yankees and all their enemies at once. Instead, there's a nebulous need to improve the roster — which parts? all parts! — without a must-have target.

Cody Bellinger, Tatsuya Imai, and Kyle Tucker stand out in a field of nice-to-haves. Ask 10 fans what they think'll happen, and most will be resigned to the inevitability of a Bellinger return being the Yankees' biggest move. Ask 10 fans what they actually want? They'll probably go way off the board and forecast a Fernando Tatis Jr. or Sandy Alcantara trade. Again, weird offseason.

But when Heyman throws cold water on what fans have been viewing as the inevitable sigh and "ugh, fine" reunion with Bellinger, that's how the mood really plummets.

Heyman noted a gap in years permeating the current negotiations, but you don't have to look that far into the past to realize that a swift resolution is still a possibility here, despite the Mets and Blue Jays barking at the door.

Does it matter that the New York Yankees and Cody Bellinger have a "gap" in free agent negotiations? Not...really, no.

If two sides have a "gap" in negotiations, then that means negotiations have already begun.

Of course, you only have to look back to the 2022-23 offseason to find an instance where Heyman reported a similar gap in negotiations, only for a deal to get done 24 hours later.

Carlos Rodón filled the "gap". Bellinger could, too.

Don't expect a resolution in 24 hours, though. After all, Bellinger not making it to the Winter Meetings after waiting this long would be foolish.

Of course, a panel of anonymous executives last week told ESPN that they picked the Yankees as Tucker's most likely destination (six votes), and not one of them believed Bellinger was the free agent most likely to reunite with his old team.

Maybe they've heard about the gap? As well as a little something more?