About the Off-Season: Plan Q

About the Off-Season: Plan Q

By Tim Kabel

January 21, 2026

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The off-season is winding down. Spring Training will be here in a month. The Yankees have done very little during this offseason.

Actually, saying that the Yankees did very little is giving them too much credit. They did less than very little. Basically, they made a qualifying offer to Trent Grisham, which he accepted. Whether the Yankees expected or wanted him to accept it is a matter of conjecture. We will never know.  Regardless, he accepted the offer, so he will be there. The Yankees then brought back Tim Hill, Amed Rosario, and Ryan Yarbrough. All three of them are useful pieces but that's all they are. 

Finally, in addition to many players scooped off the scrap heap and signed to minor league contracts, the Yankees traded for Ryan Weathers from the Marlins. Weathers is yet another player who brings a lot of uncertainty to the table. He has talent but he has not pitched a lot due to injury and it is unclear what his exact role will be with the Yankees. I read that he may be a starter, but that some people feel he would be better suited to becoming a late-inning reliever. Yet another article suggested the Yankees might stash him in AAA to let him develop into whatever role the team chooses for him. That would be disappointing, considering they traded four prospects for him.

So, those are the few moves the Yankees did make. What didn't they do?

The answer is just about everything.

They did not sign Tatsuya Imai. They did not sign Kazuma Okamoto. They did not sign Alex Bregman. They did not sign Edwin Diaz. They did not sign Pete Alonso. They did not sign Bo Bichette. I think you're starting to see a trend here. They didn't sign anyone of any consequence.

Each and every time the Yankees failed to sign somebody; we heard about the Yankees fallback position, their Plan B, if you will. Essentially, it seemed that all the Yankees had was a collection of Plan B's. The Yankees had so many fallback positions that they moved right past Plan B and Plan C and kept going through the alphabet. According to my calculations, right now they are at Plan Q.

Just about all the major free agents have signed. The last one remaining is Cody Bellinger. At one point, the Yankees were the favorite to sign him. I don't believe that to be the case any longer. Reportedly, Bellinger is mulling over several offers. It is logical to assume that if the Yankees’ offer was the one Bellinger would accept, he would have done so already. Why? Because the Yankees have stated they would not increase their offer.

The Yankees made what they perceived to be a fair offer. Reportedly, that offer is between $150 and $160 million for 5 years. The only thing the Yankees have done is add various sweeteners to the deal such as opt-outs and possibly a signing bonus. The Yankees do not appear to be willing to budge on the overall salary per year and more importantly the number of years in the contract. Bellinger reportedly wants a seven-year contract. I don't know if he will get one but if he does, it won't be from the Yankees.

To be clear, I don't think the Yankee should sign Bellinger to a longer contract than the five-year contract they reportedly offered. Nor do I think it is reasonable to pay him more than $32 million a year. The Yankees are correct. That is a fair offer. Unfortunately, fair might not get it done.

Again, if the Yankees fail to sign Bellinger because he gets a contract for more than five years and more than $32 million per year, it would be hard to criticize the Yankees for not matching such a deal. What makes it difficult to swallow is that the Yankees didn't do anything. It's not just that Cody Bellinger will probably sign with another team. It's that every free agent signed with another team. The Yankees played musical chairs and wound up without a chair. Is it possible the Yankees could still jump back in and sign Bellinger? Of course it is. But is it likely? No, it is not.

Since it is highly likely that Cody Bellinger will be playing for some other team next season, we are now moving solidly into Plan Q territory. The Yankees are exploring all sorts of other options. I have seen a variety of names being mentioned. Many of the players are on the downside of their careers or haven't yet reached their potential or have been injured.

I really don't think the Yankees should go in that direction. Jasson Dominguez had a fine year for the Yankees last year. Was it excellent? Was it extraordinary? No, it wasn't. But he only had a handful of at bats once August arrived. The Yankees should give him the chance to play every day and give Spencer Jones the chance to oust Trent Grisham from center field.

We have heard for a few years now that the Yankees needed to get younger and more athletic. This offseason they added to that by saying they needed to get more right-handed hitters so, what did they do? The other day, they signed Seth Brown, a 33-year-old outfielder/first baseman who played parts of seven seasons with the Athletics. (Maybe that's what the Yankees meant about getting more Athletic). His best year was in 2022 when he batted .230 with 25 home runs but in the three-year since then, he hit .223 with a total of 29 home runs. By the way, he is a left-handed hitter. 

Another reported fallback position if they lose out on Cody Bellinger is to trade for Freddy Peralta. It's hard to imagine that a pitcher as good as Peralta would be considered a fallback position but, this is the Yankees. No one said it would make sense. Peralta is an excellent pitcher and would help the Yankees immensely. The problem is that he is a rental player. The Yankees did that with Juan Soto. It also looks like they did that with Cody Bellinger, the way things are right now. They don't need to do it again.

I remember seeing a clip from a speech by Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he said he didn't believe in Plan B. He said that you need to have a Plan A and you need to commit to it totally and consistently and that when you started having plan a Plan B, you were putting time and energy into something that wasn't your primary goal or plan. He felt that that made it less likely that you would achieve Plan A. That makes sense.

He never said anything about Plan Q. However, I would think that Arnold would frown upon such a thing because when you get to Plan Q, it just means that you don't actually have a plan.