Yanks bag Bellinger and lefty pitcher

NEW YORK — Outfielder Cody Bellinger was acquired by the New York Yankees from the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday for right-hander Cody Poteet.

Chicago will send the Yankees $5 million as part of the trade.

The 29-year-old Bellinger, whose father Clay helped the Yankees win World Series titles in 1999 and 2000, could play center field next year, as Aaron Judge returns to right field following the departure of Juan Soto to the Mets. Bellinger also can play first base, a position that opened up when Anthony Rizzo became a free agent.

Bellinger is owed $27.5 million in 2025 under the first of two player options as part of an $80 million, three-year contract. The two-time All-Star also has a $25 million player option for 2026, with a $5 million buyout that would be payable in equal installments on Jan 15, 2026, and Jan 15, 2027.

Bellinger batted .266 with 18 homers and 78 RBIs in 130 games this year. He was on the injured list from April 24 to May 7 with a broken right rib.

He drove in 33 runs in his last 39 games of the season, but Chicago finished with an 83-79 record.

Bellinger made his major league debut in 2017 and spent his first six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was the NL MVP in 2019, batting .305 with 47 homers and 115 RBIs in 156 games. He also helped LA win the World Series in 2020.

He was cut by the Dodgers in November 2022 and signed a $17.5 million, one-year deal with Chicago a month later. He regained his form with the Cubs, hitting a career-best.307 with 26 homers, 97 RBIs and 20 steals in 130 games in 2023.

Bellinger is a .259 hitter with 196 homers and 597 RBIs in 1,005 games. He turns 30 in July.

Poteet, 30, made his major league debut with Miami in 2021, had Tommy John surgery on Aug 17, 2022, and returned to the mound with Kansas City's Triple-A Omaha farm team on Sept 23, 2023. He was released by the Royals and signed with the Yankees last January.

Southpaw Fried signs up

Left-hander Max Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees on Tuesday.

It's the largest guarantee in MLB history for a left-handed pitcher, edging David Price's seven-year, $217 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in 2016.

"He's one of the game's really, really good pitchers, and has a really good track record, now, of success," New York manager Aaron Boone said last week of Fried. "He's a special talent."

A two-time All-Star, Fried joins right-handed ace Gerrit Cole to form a one-two punch at the front of the Yankees' rotation. Cole, 34, signed the largest contract ever for a pitcher with the Yankees in 2020 as a free agent, and opted to return to finish out the nine-year, $324 million deal at the end of the World Series.

Fried, 30, spent his first eight MLB seasons with the Atlanta Braves and went 11-10 with a 3.25 ERA across 29 starts last season. He had 166 strikeouts and a career-high 57 walks over 174-and-one-third innings. He also pitched a major league-high two complete games (one shutout).

Fried was an All-Star in 2022 and 2024, and he received votes for the National League Cy Young Award in 2020 (placing fifth) and 2022 (second).

In 168 career games (151 starts), Fried has gone 73-36 with a 3.07 ERA and 863 strikeouts against 246 walks in 884-and-one-third innings. He has tossed six complete games, including four shutouts.

Cole's historic deal was exceeded last winter, when the Dodgers won the bidding for Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a $325 million contract.

Agencies