Yankees have competition in Blue Jays, Dodgers and Mets for Cody Bellinger

The Yankees are known to have interest in reuniting with Cody Bellinger, even after Trent Grisham accepted the qualifying offer yesterday, but they will have competition.

Bellinger has already been connected to the Mets and Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Blue Jays and Dodgers have interest in him as well.

The Blue Jays have already been connected to Kyle Tucker, a lefty swinger who happens to be the top free agent available.

Bellinger hasn't been quite at Tucker's level for most of the recent past but he is coming off a better platform season.

Passan writes that the Blue Jays view Bellinger as an acceptable fallback to Tucker.

Passan notes that the Jays want a left-handed complement to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. They have a few lefties projected to be in next year's lineup.

That includes Addison Barger, Daulton Varsho and Nathan Lukes, but there's room for improvement there.

Barger has shown signs he could be a middle-of-the-order bat but his track record in the majors isn't especially long yet.

Varsho has some home run pop but isn't an elite hitter overall. Lukes is a pesky, contact-oriented type.

Observant Blue Jays fans will know that the club has been connected to Bellinger throughout his ups and downs, so it's perhaps unsurprising that they have him on the radar again.

Bellinger just had a strong 2025 campaign with the Yankees. He hit 29 home runs while only striking out 13.7% of the time.

His .272/.334/.480 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 125. He stole 13 bases and got strong defensive grades, playing all three outfield spots as well as first base.