Yankees insider's free agency prediction will kill the vibes for second straight year

The New York Yankees' all-slug outfield may be here for a good time, but not a long time. Brian Cashman's Plan B upon Juan Soto's departure included Cody Bellinger, and probably didn't include 2024 backup Trent Grisham slugging 34 home runs and coming through repeatedly in the clutch. Still, the Yankees found gold, and hotshot prospect Jasson Dominguez ended up largely on the backburner.

The Yankees still have faith in Dominguez (at least, publicly), and powerhouse prospect Spencer Jones finally locked into his game swing in a ridiculous surge at Triple-A (before back spasms put an end to his dominance). That said, it would feel somewhat absurd (and very anti-Yankee-like) for them to hand the keys to two youngsters this offseason without bringing in or keeping a veteran running mate for Aaron Judge in right field. Grisham is hitting the open market, and Bellinger will surely opt out of his deal, but it's always felt logical for the Yankees to continue the marriage and keep the ex-Dodger home. He's felt like a comfortable fit from Day 1, sharing Yankees genes with his father Clay, a key bench piece on the dynastic '90s Yankees.

And yet ... longtime insider Bob Klapisch does not see it that way. At all.

As Klapisch wrote in a writers' roundtable discussion ahead of Game 3, "Cody Bellinger is not coming back. I do not see it happening at all. I think the Spencer Jones era will be starting in 2026."

And, yes, he was equally definitive about Devin Williams departing, calling that a "certainty". With all due respect, though, you don't need to have sources to cook up that one.

Yankees' Cody Bellinger is "not coming back," per Bob Klapisch

There's only one justifiable reason for letting Bellinger walk outright this offseason, and it's not handing the keys to Dominguez or Jones. It's signing Kyle Tucker for $400 million. Now, after typing that sentence, allow me to quickly check Tucker's playoff stats — oh my god, no, no, there are now zero reasons, bring Bellinger back.

Before you write it off as conjecture, Klapisch is a member of the old guard, and is highly tied into the front office and ownership. This isn't quite on the level of Bill Madden basically coming out of nowhere with a message directly from Hal that the Yankees were outbid on Juan Soto, but if he genuinely believes that Bellinger is a lock to leave, then he's getting his indicators from somewhere high up.

We'll still bet on the side of Bellinger returning on a five-year deal and carrying his first baseman's glove with him for insurance purposes, but we can't deny Klapisch is confident in the opposite.