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Yankees rumors: 5 trades to make after Aaron Judge’s return

By Zach Pressnell

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /
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Cubs, Cody Bellinger
Cubs, Cody Bellinger (Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports) /

Yankees fans, rejoice. Aaron Judge is finally back in New York and the Yankees will look to the trade market to upgrade their team around the MVP.

It’s finally here. For the last 53 days, Aaron Judge has been sidelined after he ran through a wall for his team and hurt his foot. But the former MVP is back, and this Yankees team needs him. New York looks like a completely different team without the slugger and their offense will need to hit a complete 180 in order to push them into the playoffs.

Judge can’t be the only trade deadline addition they make to the team. They have multiple other needs too, that they will explore the market for in the coming weeks. With Aaron Judge returning, let’s look at five deals for New York to make in the coming days.

Yankees rumors: New York needs to pull the trigger and acquire Cody Bellinger before it’s too late

Over the last few weeks, Cody Bellinger has emerged as one of the best rental bats on the entire trade market. Not only is he one of the top bats, but he has two years of control, including a team option in 2024. So far in 2023, he’s posted his highest batting average of his career with a slash line of .317/.364/.546 and 15 home runs. To go with that, Bellinger plays a tremendous outfield.

This would fill the Yankees biggest hole, even with Judge’s return. New York has played musical chairs over the past few months in their outfield, shifting from player to player in hopes that somebody would play well enough to tick, but nobody has. Not only would adding Bellinger upgrade their outfield, but their lineup in general would get so much better.

The Cubs will likely return a good haul for the outfielder, but the Yankees have never been one to shy away from paying a steeper price for a player. With the outfield market being quite shallow this season, they could end up in quite a bidding war with other contenders for the Cubs outfield. With that being said, it would be in New York’s best interest to act as soon as they can in pursuit of the former MVP.

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