A strong argument can be made that the Yankees’ strongest unit this past season was its outfield. They led all of baseball with 8.2 Wins Above Average, buoyed of course by Aaron Judge’s 5.6. But the outfield corps lost two-thirds of its starters when free agency began yesterday, with Cody Bellinger opting out of his deal and Trent Grisham reaching the end of his arbitration years. For a team that projects to bring back all members of its postseason rotation and primary starting infield as well as its closer, the outfield presents the most urgent area of need.

It’s a repeat of last offseason, when the Yankees’ top priority was to retain Juan Soto. After they failed to do so, they pivoted to Bellinger and, while there’s no replacing Soto’s all-world bat, Bellinger played at an All-Star leve

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