Overview
- Jon Heyman reports Bellinger remains the Yankees’ top priority and the team is confident he will not choose the Mets.
- YES Network’s Jack Curry says no club has come close to Scott Boras’s demands, with reporting pegging Bellinger’s target near six years and $180 million.
- New York has checked in on free agent Austin Hays as a contingency, a right-handed bat who hit .266 with 15 homers in 2025 and has been discussed as a platoon fit with Jasson Domínguez.
- Rival interest continues to shape the market, with the Mets linked to both Bellinger and Hays and the Royals also showing interest in Hays.
- A widely shared $400 million figure for Bellinger was published and then retracted by Barry M. Bloom, and Aaron Judge has been pushing internally for the Yankees to retain Bellinger.