Fundamentally, nothing has changed on the Cody Bellinger front. We get these drip-drips of MAYBE interesting or useful nuggets, but the headline story is the headline story: Cubs want him back, he wants to be back, they are probably not particularly close on price. February approaches.
Miscellaneous Bellinger bits upon which we obsess …
- According to Bob Nightengale, Cody Bellinger has not yet received a “formal contract offer” from anyone. That might mean a lot, or it might mean nothing. Keep in mind, execs and agents discuss contracts PLENTY without reaching the “formal contract offer” stage. So it is highly probable that the Cubs, and other clubs, have at least discussed with Scott Boras the very rough parameters of what an acceptable deal might look like (which, of course, it’s entirely possible it was just Boras making an aggressive ask, and Hoyer responding that he should call back when he gets serious). I don’t think “no formal offer” means “nobody has talked to Boras about a possible contract whatsoever.”
- Still, it’s a little surprising that at no point have the Cubs or any other team submitted a shorter-term, higher-AAV type offer just to put it on the table. That suggests the initial ask from Boras was outrageously high, and maybe remains so for now. That’d be one explanatory theory, anyway. And the Cubs’ price window is still probably holding firm at something welllll shy of $200 million.
- Anonymous executives with whom Mark Feinsand spoke still guess that Cody Bellinger winds up back with the Cubs: “The Cubs signed Shร ยta Imanaga to replace Stroman in the rotation, but Chicago has yet to address the potential hole in the lineup that would be created should Bellinger sign elsewhere. Of course, the Cubs could simply bring Bellinger back, which most execs believe will be the ultimate outcome.”
- Other bit from those execs: Matt Chapman is “still in play” for the Cubs, with even a hint that the Cubs could surprise and sign both Chapman and Bellinger (I strongly doubt it, and for as wonderful as that would be for 2024, it could get a little dicier in future years). Also worth noting that, since Boras represents Chapman, too, the Cubs can’t easily play a pursuit of one player off of the other.
- One exec guessed the Yankees would get back in on Bellinger, which I could buy if the price is right. Much in the same way it is with the Cubs, there are some fit questions (short-term for the Yankees, long-term for the Cubs), but if the Yankees want better Aaron Judge protection for center field than Trent Grisham, they could put Bellinger there, and then rotate Judge among right field and DH. In that world, Juan Soto moves to left field, and Alex Verdugo becomes a rotational guy. It’s a bit of a stretch, but Bellinger can also play first base periodically, and then after this season, when both Soto and Verdugo (and possibly Anthony Rizzo) are free agents, the Yankees might really want Bellinger around.
- The Blue Jays haven’t been mentioned too much with Bellinger lately, but I still don’t know that we can rule them out, especially in a world where the $200M+ price is not attainable by Scott Boras. Ken Rosenthal questions, however, whether the Blue Jays would want to go past the second luxury tax tier to sign Bellinger.
- The Angels have another local mention in connection with Cody Bellinger, though this one is more speculative than the previous one. It’s mostly just connecting some dots about the Angels’ need for a bat, the fit positionally short-and-long-term, and the GM’s mention that they weren’t done yet this offseason.
- In all, it seems like the widest possible market for Bellinger would include the Cubs, Angels, Blue Jays, Giants, Yankees, and Mariners. There could always be a super-surprising mystery team (Red Sox? Orioles?), but those six teams are the ones that have, at any point this offseason, been connected by a real rumor. And of them, all but the Angels and Cubs have made moves that you *MIGHT* point to as saying takes them out, either positionally or because of the money. Further, of all the teams, the Angels are probably the ones that concern me the most, because owner Arte Moreno sometimes steps in and just gets a monster deal done. That would be consistent with Scott Boras’s approach, too, and you can imagine the Cody Bellinger sales pitch involving Shohei Ohtani’s departure, Bellinger’s connection to LA, his former MVP days and bounce back and age, etc. Might work on the right owner …