![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/aaron-boone-new-york-yankees.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
(Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The New York Yankees<\/a> need a band-aid for their starting rotation to start the 2026 MLB season, as Gerrit Cole (elbow), Carlos Rod\u00f3n (elbow), and Clarke Schmidt (Tommy John surgery) are recovering from injuries. <\/p>\n Rod\u00f3n is expected to return first, potentially in April or May, while Cole and Schmidt are projected to follow later in the spring or into early summer. As a result, the Yankees need to find a way to bridge the start of the season until all three key starters are back for them. <\/p>\n On Jan. 9, former big leaguer Harold Reynolds floated the idea on MLB Network<\/a> that New York should consider signing veteran pitcher Chris Bassitt.<\/p>\n \u201c[The Yankees] need pitching, particularly the bandaid, the beginning of the year,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cThis is a guy that can say, \u2018I\u2019ll do that role. I can go to the pen if I need to. I\u2019m flexible.\u2019 It\u2019s a perfect fit for the Yanks.\u201d<\/p>\n Bassitt had a record of 11-9 with an ERA of 3.96 and 166 strikeouts in 32 appearances in 2025 with the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>, per StatMuse<\/a>. Moreover, Bassitt has pitched in New York and knows the AL East, so Reynolds\u2019 idea does make sense.<\/p>\n Yankees Get Update on Cody Bellinger<\/p>\n While Bassit is a nice free-agent idea, the Yankees are reportedly trying to sign and bring back Cody Bellinger to the Bronx. On Jan. 9, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal appeared on \u201cFoul Territory\u201c<\/a>\u00a0and shared the latest on Bellinger, as the Yankees issued a warning to the player over his contract demand.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure [the Yankees] have some concerns about bidding against themselves, but the Mets<\/a> have\u00a0been reported\u00a0to be on Bellinger as well,\u201c Rosenthal said. \u201cWhen players of a certain level are out there, and people say they have no market, I\u2019m always skeptical because good players always have teams interested\u2026 If [Bellinger] got a $30 million AAV, it would be the fourth highest for an outfielder. That\u2019s pretty good, and five years isn\u2019t bad either.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure Bellinger and his agent, Scott Boras, do want greater length, and they have every right to seek it. I just don\u2019t know that they\u2019re going to get it. And it certainly sounds like they\u2019re not going to get it from the Yankees. And then the question becomes, where else would the Mets do that? The Mets have been more inclined to do shorter deals, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Ken Rosenthal on Cody Bellinger\u2019s Demand<\/p>\n Moreover, Rosenthal sought to understand why Bellinger and his camp might be holding firm on their stance of seeking a long-term contract in free agency rather than settling for a short-term agreement and potentially having to opt out to test the market again.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is, at what level are they interested in?\u201c Rosenthal added. \u201cCody Bellinger [at] $30-plus million a year for five years would be a good deal for a guy who has not gotten a long-term deal yet, right? At the same time, he\u2019s probably looking at, like, \u2018I\u2019m younger than Alonso, I\u2019m younger than Schwarber, and those guys got five years. Why shouldn\u2019t I get longer?\u2018 That would be his perspective on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/strong><\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Yankees\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images) The New York Yankees need a band-aid for their starting rotation to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":505374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-505373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115869014120005028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}