On Wednesday night, the New York Yankees and their fans received fantastic news as young ace Cam Schlittler was named the unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner for the 2026 season.

It was a foregone conclusion that the 25-year-old right-handed hurler would win, especially after watching his season on the mound. Dylan Cease finished in second place with 110 votes, followed by rookie Peter Messick (84 votes), Drew Rasmussen (72 votes), and Sonny Gray (21 votes).

In his first full major-league season, Schlittler led a Yankees rotation featuring veterans such as Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, and Gerrit Cole. The right-handed ace posted a 14-6 record and a 1.95 ERA in 33 starts. He surrendered 129 hits, 49 walks, and 42 earned runs (16 home runs) while racking up 239 strikeouts in 193.2 innings.

He also held opponents to a .185 batting average (down from .217 in 2025) and posted a 38.4% hard-hit rate, which speaks volumes about how good the second-year pitcher was. With this win, fans may start asking when the contract extension talks will start.

A starting pitcher of Schlittler’s caliber will only get better, which means the price tag will go up, especially if he adds more Cy Youngs to his catalog.

Yankees should buck their own extension trend for Cam Schlittler after a meteoric 2026 season

Last month, Yankees On SI’s Michael Zeno wrote about how the Yankees have stuck to their trend of not extending players early. Zeno mentioned that the rookie extensions New York gave to Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks, which backfired, might make them hesitant to do it again, but Schlittler should be the exception.

And I agree with him; after witnessing what we saw in 2026 from a kid who was a seventh-round pick in 2022 and rose through the minor league ranks to become an ace, it’s a no-brainer for the Yankees to get an extension done now.

As things currently stand, Schlittler is still under team control for several years. The former Northeastern star won’t become arbitration-eligible until 2029 and won’t hit free agency until 2032.

Simply put, there’s no pressure to get an extension done, but if they went against their own self-imposed trend, it would bring a level of excitement to the fanbase and show that they’re serious about winning now and in the future.

And it’s not like the Yankees don’t have the framework to work from, with a potential extension. Earlier in the 2026 season, the Cincinnati Reds signed electrifying young hurler Chase Burns to a seven-year, $105 million contract extension, and he made his MLB debut in 2025 like Schlittler.

The Reds brought out his arbitration and free agency immediately, so Burns won’t hit the open market until 2034, when he’s 31 (theoretically still in his prime). If I’m general manager Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner, a seven-year deal is a good starting point for the new AL Cy Young winner, as he won’t hit free agency until he’s 32-33 years old.

And as for the actual contract amount, a $125 million deal isn’t far-fetched for Schlittler, who has a Cy Young in his back pocket and could get better.

Now, there’s also a slight risk he might’ve peaked or get injured, but getting a deal with a $17.8 million AAV would be more than Burns’ $15 million AAV. Also, if you’re the Yankees, it allows you to focus your efforts elsewhere in free agency in the coming years, especially if there’s a salary cap.

For a team like the Yankees, which has the money to buy starting pitching in free agency, they have a chance to use their funds to lock up their ace for the foreseeable future, who can win more Cy Youngs at the trajectory he’s on.