Michael Kay spurring Fernando Tatis Jr. trade chatter has Yankees fans salivating

Now that Trent Grisham is officially the New York Yankees' 2026 center fielder, Brian Cashman has one more starting outfield vacancy to fill, and many signs point to a Cody Bellinger return. Cashman has been transparent with the media that the Yankees want Belli back, which leads one to believe that New York will stay neck-and-neck in whatever sort of bidding war Scott Boras wages for Bellinger.

However, Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay just proposed a completely different idea for left field: Fernando Tatis Jr. That would require a trade with the San Diego Padres, who the Yankees just did business with for the Juan Soto deal back in 2023.

Yankees fans are naturally thrilled by Kay's suggestion, which isn't without multiple layers of reasoning. For one, Kay feels that the Yankees would be unwise to overpay Bellinger.

Michael Kay argues why the Yankees should trade for Fernando Tatis Jr. rather than re-sign Cody Bellinger

Kay said that he'd probably tap out of a Bellinger bidding war if it reached a $30 million AAV realm, citing Bellinger's inconsistent career. Kay then said that he'd pivot to Tatis, who is younger (26 to Bellinger's 30), and whose $340 million contract is actually below market value due to it being signed back in 2021.

"I would make a phone call to (San Diego Padres general manager) AJ Preller," Kay said. "(And say) 'What do you need? What do you want? We got a deep farm system.'"

Kay makes excellent points about the value of Tatis's contract. Tatis is making only $20.7 million next season, followed by $25.7 million in each of the following two seasons. That's tremendous value for a superstar in his prime who's already collected three All-Star nods, two Platinum Gloves, and two Silver Slugger Awards.

Even once Tatis's salary jumps up to $36.7 million in 2029 (and stays at that rate through 2034), it's still a below-market AAV given his production on offense and defense. Kay also noted that the Yankees would be free of the deal by the time Tatis is 35 or 36, thereby avoiding a bad cost during the twilight of his career.

There's not much not to love about Kay's idea here. Critics of the suggestion will point to Tatis's no-trade clause, but Kay rebutted that notion by asserting that Tatis and his flair for the dramatic would be fully open to a move to the Bronx.

If you believe that Preller would also be open to a Tatis-Yankees outcome, the question then becomes what he'd demand from Cashman to get the ball rolling. While Preller would no doubt ask for the cream of New York's farm system, would he also point to Ben Rice as a must-include piece of the deal? That might be too much for the Yanks, if you're a believer in Rice's All-Star ceiling, but you're going to have to give to get here.