Yankees’ margin for error with Cody Bellinger free agency has grown slimer

The music has not yet stopped, but it is certainly getting close to the final chorus in the game of musical chairs that is MLB free agency.

And while the Yankees and Cody Bellinger continue their dance around the length of a contract, what would have been their two best free agent pivots if they weren’t able to find common ground with Bellinger are no longer on the board.

With Kyle Tucker landing a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers and Bo Bichette heading to Queens on a three-year, $126 million deal, the Yankees options for an impact bat beyond Bellinger are dwindling — and they are not overflowing on the trade market, either — turning up the pressure to finally secure a reunion with their top priority all offseason.

The Yankees are believed to have an offer out to Bellinger for five years and $155 million, though the 30-year-old’s camp is still seeking seven years. Now that Tucker and Bichette have agreed to deals elsewhere, the market for Bellinger should become more defined, with the lefty-hitting outfielder becoming the clear-cut top hitter available in free agency — and by a decent margin, with third baseman Eugenio Suárez the next best hitter remaining.

There had been a sense that Bellinger may wait for Tucker to sign so that the teams that missed out on the former Astro and Cub could boost the market for the former Yankee, Cub and Dodger. Besides the Dodgers, the Mets and Blue Jays were the teams going hardest for Tucker, and while the Mets rebounded by signing Bichette — who the Phillies had been trying to reel in — to another short-term deal, they still have a need in the outfield.

So the Yankees’ competition for Bellinger now figures to include the Mets, Blue Jays and Giants, perhaps with the Phillies also in play, though they responded to losing out on Bichette by re-signing catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million deal.

The Blue Jays had offered Tucker a 10-year, $350 million deal, noti.group’s Jon Heyman reported. Tucker is a year and a half younger and a more consistent hitter, but might they be willing to offer some of that money and years for Bellinger? Besides, it would be two for the price of one by keeping him away from their AL East rivals, who have said all along how much they want to bring him back.

The Mets had offered Tucker four years and $220 million, per Heyman. They have been loathe to offer long-term deals with older players, but would a short-term deal with a higher average annual value than the Yankees are offering be something Bellinger would consider? The Mets could certainly use him, with their current projected outfield made up of Juan Soto in right, Tyrone Taylor in center, and rookie Carson Benge in left. And Scott Boras, Bellinger’s agent, is only just over a year removed from his client (then Soto) being in a bidding war between the two New York teams.

For now, the Yankees have been holding fast to their five-year offer for Bellinger, wary all winter of not bidding against themselves. But their margin for error is slim.

Brian Cashman has said all along that they could head into spring with a left field competition between Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones. And if they do end up missing on Bellinger, it would not be surprising to see them add a right-handed hitting outfielder — someone like Austin Hays — to form a potential platoon with Domínguez, a switch-hitter who is much better from the left side.

But such a scenario would still leave them with a big hole in their lineup, given the threat that Bellinger was hitting behind Aaron Judge for most of the season last year, and remove a valuable, versatile and trustworthy defender from their roster. All of which, of course, is why he has been the Yankees’ top target from the start, as long as it comes at a price and term with which they are comfortable.