CBS Sports | Dayn Perry: Thursday night’s bombshell that Kyle Tucker would be heading to Los Angeles seemed to set up another potential Yankees vs. Mets showdown for a free agent outfielder. The Mets were heavily involved in the Tucker bidding, which would lead one to believe that they could turn their atention to Cody Bellinger. But now, the Mets have made their own major move, grabbing Bo Bichette on a three-year, $126-million deal with two opt outs. Have the Mets removed themselves from the Bellinger sweepstakes? Or will they challenge the Yankees once again?
New York Post | Jon Heyman: We’ve gotten a lot of detail about the Yankees’ reported offer to Bellinger lately, as it’s widely assumed that New York has something like five years and $155 million on the table for the outfielder. Heyman reports further, suggesting that the Yankees are also comfortable offering not one but two opt-outs in the deal. That would be a pretty favorable contract from the player’s perspective, and it’s worth wondering whether Bellinger can expect to extract much more favorable terms than what’s already out there.
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MLB.com | David Adler: Ryan Weathers, breakout candidate? The Yankees sure hope so, and there is reason to believe. Weathers’ arsenal last year comps well to Jesús Luzardo, Tarik Skubal, and Garrett Crochet, per Statcast, a pretty tantalizing group to be associated with. There’s clear potential for huge strikeout stuff, but the whiffs haven’t all the way come yet for Weathers, his 8.5 K/9 rate with the Marlins solid but far from elite, and staying on the field has always been a problem for the lefty. The Yankees have a promising project on their hands, but a project nonetheless.
FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: If you’re in the mood, here’s more analysis of the fateful Tucker deal. Jaffe writes that it sets a new standard for short-term, high-AAV deals, with Tucker’s $57 million annual luxury tax hit (after accounting for deferrals), making him the highest-paid player on an annual basis in MLB history, outstripping Juan Soto’s $51 million number and Shohei Ohtani’s $46 million figure. If you’re coming away from this feeling like this is all a bit much for a player of Tucker’s caliber (read: very, very good, but perhaps not great), then you’d probably be justified, with FanGraphs’ ZiPS projections suggesting about $150 million as an appropriate median offer for Tucker over a four-year term.
