Yankees’ Cody Bellinger dealing with minor back issue, expected to be out until next week

Look, I know it’s only February. I know the standings in the Grapefruit League mean about as much as a New Year’s resolution on the third week of January. But you can’t ignore a 7-2 start, especially when the Yankees are out there treating the Toronto Blue Jays like a Triple-A affiliate. Saturday’s 5-1 win was clinical. It was quiet. It was exactly what you want to see from a team that spent the winter reinforcing its walls rather than just painting them.

The headline from the mound was Paul Blackburn. Let’s be real, half of you probably groaned when he signed that one-year, $2 million flyer in January. But the man just went out and tossed four scoreless innings. He looked comfortable. He looked like a guy who knows he’s fighting for a bridge role or long relief, and he didn’t waste a single pitch against a Toronto lineup that usually loves a free meal.

The Belli Ache in the Bronx

Then there is the Cody Bellinger situation. During the 17-5 shellacking of the Minnesota Twins on Friday, Belli went down with a back issue, and suddenly, that five-year, $162.5 million investment felt a little more fragile.

Still, it’s not expected to be anything of major importance.

“Cody Bellinger’s back went out on him yesterday, per Boone. The Yankees think it’s minor, and the hope is to get him back in a game potentially on Tuesday,” Greg Joyce of the New York Post wrote on his X account.

It is the kind of update that makes you want to wrap the guy in bubble wrap. However, Bellinger played 152 games last season and won’t be stopped by a minor back thing in late February.

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, this is remarkably similar to the tweak he dealt with early last year. That’s actually a bit of a relief. If he can play 152 games with a cranky back and still produce 29 homers, a 4.9 fWAR, and a 125 wRC+ while basically carrying the outfield depth on his shoulders, I’m not losing sleep over him missing a few bus rides to Dunedin. The Yankees are being smart here. There is zero reason to have your $160 million man grimacing over a fly ball in a game that doesn’t count.

Risk Management and the Long Game

The plan is to keep him sidelined until at least Tuesday. Aaron Boone has the luxury of playing it safe because the rest of the squad is clicking, and even if that weren’t the case, standings matter very little at this point. When you’re sitting at 7-2 and your reclamation projects like Blackburn are throwing zeros, you can afford to let your stars nap. Bellinger is the engine of that middle-of-the-order production. After his bounce-back 2025, he is the safety net for this lineup.

If he’s back Tuesday, great. If it’s Thursday, who cares? The goal isn’t to win the Grapefruit League trophy. The goal is to make sure that when the lights turn on for real in late March, Belli is ready to launch balls into the Short Porch without clutching his lumbar. Let him rest.