As spring training gets underway for the New York Yankees, several premier free agents are still waiting to sign their next contracts. Two players still available on the free agent market are starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery and left-handed hitting outfielder Cody Bellinger.
The Yankees should look into acquiring Montgomery, but they should pass on Bellinger. Let's see why a reunion with Montgomery would be good for both parties, while Bellinger would not be a good fit and would likely benefit from signing somewhere else.
The Yankees still need to add pitching depth
The Yankees' decision to bring in Juan Soto was the right move, but it came at the expense of a significant amount of the team's pitching depth. The Yankees had planned on softening that blow by signing international free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto out of Japan.
Unfortunately for the Bombers, Yamamoto spurned Cashman to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers and play alongside his fellow countryman Shohei Ohtani.
This was a major disappointment for the Yankees, and it leaves a gaping hole in their rotation. Montgomery is an excellent number three or four option in the rotation with number two upside.
Jordan Montgomery has proven he can play in New York
The Yankees have famously had signings come back to bite them in the past, with one of the most obvious examples being Sonny Gray. Gray has been an All-Star caliber pitcher for most of his career, with the glaring exception of his time in the Bronx. Gray is a reminder that not every player is built to be a Yankee. Joey Gallo is another example of a talented player who struggled in New York.
The Yankees need to be sure that the players they bring in will be comfortable under the bright lights of New York City and don't fold under pressure. Montgomery may not be a superstar, but he has already proven that he is capable of handling the pressure that comes with playing in New York.
This is an important quality and should not be overlooked. In a lot of ways, Montgomery is a known quantity. This in and of itself provides value, and should be another factor in Brian Cashman's decision to reunite with the southpaw.
Cody Bellinger amplifies the worst elements of the Yankees lineup
Cody Bellinger has had exceptionally high highs in his career, along with devastatingly low lows. Bellinger has had short periods of time where he has looked like the best player in baseball. He has a lengthy and concerning injury history, and he strikes out too much. Who does that sound like, Yankees fans?
In a lot of ways, Bellinger imitates the worst aspects of Giancarlo Stanton’s performance. Bellinger will be dominant sometimes, and when he is on a hot streak he has the talent to put a team on his shoulders and carry them. Similarly, Stanton will almost always have at least a few weeks in a given season where he will go on an absurd hitting streak and elevate the entire team's offense by himself.
Bellinger is a great player, but an equally poor fit in New York
None of this is to say that Bellinger is a bad player by any means. In fact, he is a very good player. He just isn't the guy that the Yankees need to complete their roster. It's not just that Bellinger is a bad fit for the Yankees. The Yankees are a bad fit for him, as well. Bellinger needs to go somewhere where he can play a complementary role as an elite slugger who can drive in runners.
Bellinger needs to go to a team where there are very few players with his style rather than many players like him. No good roster can be constructed with too many redundant players. This is especially true when those redundant players have the archetype of Bellinger.
The Yankees have several talented prospects coming up through their pipeline
In terms of left-handed batters or switch-hitters that can play the outfield, the Yankees have several young players coming through the pipeline that fit this criteria. Spencer Jones might just be the best prospect in the Yankees organization without any MLB experience, and he has the potential to make it into the top 25 prospects in all of baseball by late this summer. Jones has earned comparisons to a lefty version of Aaron Judge.
Jasson Dominguez was widely considered to be the best prospect on the Yankees prior to his MLB debut, and he is a switch-hitting slugger with the defensive potential to be a plus centerfielder. How about another comparison?
Since he was 16 years old, Dominguez has been compared to a young Mickey Mantle. Not that any young prospect should be saddled with these kinds of expectations, but if you squint closely enough the comparison is there.
Dominguez is a switch hitter with blazing speed. This speed allows him to beat out ground balls with consistency to earn infield singles. Dominguez's speed also makes him a threat to run on the base paths, and allows him to chase down fly balls in the outfield that other players wouldn't even have a chance of getting to.
Playing centerfield requires the most range by far as you have to be able to get to balls hit in left center or right center, and the speed that Dominguez possesses will serve him well patrolling center for the Yankees. Dominguez has a cannon on his right shoulder, and given his age, his throwing strength is unlikely to be impacted by his recent Tommy John surgery.
The Yankees have too many needs and too much young talent on the way to acquire an expensive free agent who won’t bring anything new to the team.
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