NEWSLETTER
After yesterday was once again dominated by the player who isn’t at Chicago Cubs camp, there was much less focus today on Cody Bellinger in the discourse. Yesterday you had Cubs owner and chairman Tom Ricketts speaking, which he does infrequently, so it’s understandable that there was a whole lot of Bellinger talk at camp, around the web, and on the radio.
There was one additional bit today worth sharing, and it comes via the Foul Territory show and Bob Nightengale’s appearance:
Nightengale has not heard of another team that is actually seriously interested in signing Cody Bellinger right now, outside of the Cubs. So he feels the Cubs are playing it right by holding firm on their offer (whatever it is), and will not bid against themselves.
He went on to compare the situation to JD Martinez and the Red Sox six years ago (almost to the day), when, after holding out for something bigger, Martinez and Boras finally accepted the five-year, $110 million offer the Red Sox had been making all along. Martinez did get an opt out after two years, though, so perhaps that was what the hold out was worth. It felt like he was always going to sign with the Red Sox that offseason, and no other teams got seriously interested. So eventually, if Martinez wanted to get his season going, it was just time to sign. In the end, Martinez never opted out, so he must have been pretty happy with the deal, and the Red Sox were certainly happy with his production.
If that comparison holds true, and if Nightengale is right that no other serious bidder is going to jump in this month, then it would seem likely that eventually Bellinger and Boras will say, OK, we’ll take the best offer the Cubs are making (structure, years, dollars, incentives, all TBD). We’ll see. Not sure when that blink happens, though you’ve gotta figure Cody Bellinger will want some time in the spring to gear up for the season with his teammates.
Nightengale could be wrong about any part of that, of course, but it’s fair to note that he has been pretty on-point this offseason (with the exception of that now-notorious Christopher Morel rumor back in December).
