Yankees place Cody Bellinger on injured list as trade deadline auditions get last life

In what will prove to be a much more costly loss than some might think, the New York Yankees announced Sunday that Cody Bellinger would be going on the injured list.

Bellinger hurt his hamstring in the win over the Phillies on Saturday night and exited the game. He told reporters afterward that he didn't think it was anything serious, but that's been the injury story with almost every Yankee this year.

At the worst possible time for more injury news, Belli will miss at least 10 days (and we would guess probably longer). Spencer Jones will take his place on the active roster in what will likely be a second chance at proving he belongs with the Bombers (or building his trade value ahead of the deadline).

Even though Bellinger's offense has been downright bad for over a month now, his defense is so important to this Yankees team. He makes tough plays almost every single night and multiple highlight reel catches per week.

Jones, Trent Grisham and Jasson Dominguez will now make up the starting Yankees outfield as they try to keep up with their winning ways before the roster is reshuffled ahead of Aug. 3.

Will the Yankees trade Spencer Jones or Jasson Dominguez?

Both Jones and Dominguez have been lightly mentioned in trade rumors as the Yankees are rumored to pursue catching, pitching and infield help. Neither has impressed, so this next week could either change that narrative for the better or back the Yankees into a corner with having to keep them both.

Jones had a solid second stint with the Yankees after an unimpressive debut, and he's also torn the cover off the ball at Triple-A to the tune of a .273/.385/.557 line. He needs to be a guy for the Yankees or show enough potential in the bigs for a team to feel comfortable taking a chance on him.

Same goes for Dominguez. His Saturday performance against the Phillies was incredible (a homer and a dazzling throw to the plate to prevent a run from advancing), but that doesn't change much about his .233 average and .674 OPS in 44 games this season.

There's a world in which Jones and Dominguez remain with the Yankees and other assets are shipped off, but there's a feeling of redundancy (and a bit of a logjam) here. It's unclear who the Yankees believe in more. Dominguez has earned more of an opportunity to date and it's felt like he's been auditioning for possible trade suitors.

Jones' defensive versatility will help greatly on that front this week as well, and it'll come down to the wire since the Yankees are going to need the help on the active roster with so many guys on the IL.

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