For much of the 2023 season, it’s looked as though the number of impact bats on the upcoming free agent market would be — well… minimal. Shohei Ohtani looms large over both the starting pitching and position player markets, and there’s no real consolation prize for the teams that miss out on him. Matt Chapman has been the top-ranked non-Ohtani position player on the prior installments of MLBTR’s Free Agent Power Rankings — a new version of which will be coming out in the coming weeks — but after a blistering start to the season he’s now been a roughly average hitter for the past three-plus months. He’ll still get himself a hefty contract, thanks to the composite above-average offense and plus defense, but he no longer looks like the second-best name among position players this winter.
That distinction likely falls on Cody Bellinger, whose one-year deal with has proven to be a jackpot for both him and the Cubs. The $17.5MM that Chicago guaranteed to Bellinger now looks like an unmitigated bargain by today’s market standards, and Bellinger is in prime position to trounce that this winter, provided he can remain healthy.
That’s far from a given for a player who had shoulder surgery in Nov. 2020 and has been on the injured list four times since — including a month-long absence due to a knee injury earlier this year. But, Bellinger played in all but 10 of the Dodgers’ 384 games from 2018-20 and appeared in 144 games as recently as last season. Outside of that offseason shoulder procedure, most of his injuries have been relatively minor in nature.
What hasn’t been minor is the manner in which Bellinger has rebounded at the plate this season. Bellinger debuted as a 21-year-old back in 2017 and almost immediately established himself as an MVP-caliber talent. From 2017-19, he slashed .278/.368/.559, originally playing plus defense at first base before moving to the outfield in 2019 without missing a beat. Bellinger won NL Rookie of the Year in ’17 and was crowned the league’s MVP two years later — while also winning a Gold Glove in the outfield and a Silver Slugger.
As virtually any fan knows by now, the sky seemed like the limit but clearly was not. Bellinger was an above-average but far from elite hitter during the truncated 2020 season, batting .239/.333/.455 in 243 plate appearances. That good-not-great production continued into the postseason (.212/.316/.455, four home runs), but the bigger story of Bellinger’s playoffs was the aforementioned shoulder. The then-reigning NL MVP clubbed a pivotal home run in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Braves but regrettably dislocated the shoulder while celebrating that blast with teammate Enrique Hernandez. Bellinger went 3-for-22 in the World Series — one of those three hits being another homer — and required surgery a month later.
The next two seasons were a mess. Not only were Bellinger’s days as an MVP candidate a distant memory — it was a legitimately fair question whether he was even a viable big leaguer for much of the 2021-22 seasons. In that time, Bellinger tallied exactly 900 plate appearances and turned in an awful .193/.256/.355 slash line. He still played terrific defense, particularly in 2022, and he popped 19 home runs with 14 stolen bases during the 2022 season. The Dodgers still non-tendered Bellinger, and the Cubs outbid the field with that $17.5MM guarantee — a pricey roll of the dice on a player who’d been 31% worse than league average at the plate in the two prior seasons (by measure of wRC+).
Just as Bellinger’s days as an elite hitter quickly faded from memory in 2021-22, the struggles he endured during those two years now feel like they’re squarely in the rearview mirror. Bellinger had a brief slump when he was first activated from the injured list in mid-June, but he’s been on fire for most of the summer since his return. In 371 trips to the plate entering play Wednesday, the two-time All-Star is hitting .325/.377/.551. He’s belted 18 home runs to go along with 19 doubles, a triple and 17 steals (in 20 tries). He’s posted average or better marks in center field this season and even looked sharp in a brief return to first base (176 innings).
Perhaps most encouraging is the fact that Bellinger’s hit tool seems to be back to peak levels. Strikeouts were an issue in his rookie season (26.6%), but Bellinger pared that number all the way down to 16.4% during his MVP year in 2019. Following his surgery, Bellinger’s strikeout rate ballooned back to 27.1% in 2021-22. He also saw a massive spike in his chase rate on pitches off the plate (26.8% in 2019; 34.8% in 2021-22), while his overall contact rate dropped from 78.1% to 74.6%.
This year, Bellinger has punched out in just 15.4% of his plate appearances — the lowest mark of his career by a full percentage point. He’s enjoying career-best contact rates both on pitches in the strike zone (86.3%) and on pitches he chases off the plate (73.8%), leading to a career-high 81.4% overall contact rate.
While the improved contact skills and increased selectivity are unequivocally positive signs, there are some red flags that make Bellinger’s rebound appear a bit more tenuous. When he was at his best, Bellinger was a hard-contact machine, barreling the ball at an elite rate and ranking among the league leaders in batted balls at 95 mph or greater. In 2023, however, Bellinger’s 87.2 mph average exit velocity is nearly four miles per hour slower than his 91.1 mph average from 2019. This year’s 31.2% hard-hit rate is nowhere near his peak 45.6%, and his 6.4% rate of barreled balls (as defined by Statcast) sits at about half his best 12.6%.
That’s not to say Bellinger is a bad hitter or is likely to regress to his dismal 2021-22 levels of performance. His massive gains in contact and subsequent dip in strikeouts lend plenty of legitimacy to his rebound. The greater question is to what extent he can sustain this level of production with a quality-of-contact profile that’s actually below the league averages (89.1 mph exit velocity, 8.1% barrel rate, 39.3% hard-hit rate).
Statcast’s “expected” metrics are far from an exact science, but Bellinger still sits on the second-largest gap of all qualified hitters in terms of his actual batting average (.325) and expected batting average (.271). The gap between his .551 slugging percentage and expected .447 slugging percentage is the fifth-largest in baseball. Some fans may scoff at the mention of “expected” metrics, but they’ll surely factor into teams’ valuation of Bellinger over the winter (though most clubs have their own proprietary versions of such metrics which might differ from Statcast to varying extents). That said, even those expected ratios paint Bellinger as a clearly above-average hitter — roughly in line with what teammates Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ have produced this season. And, given Bellinger’s past displays of plus power, there’s quite a bit more upside in his bat than either of those comparisons.
As with any free agent, there are more factors to consider than Bellinger’s bat alone. He’s played first base and center field at above-average levels this season and is obviously an option in either outfield corner as well. Couple that versatility with the fact that he can hit lefties and righties at above-average rates — he’s hitting lefties better in ’23 but has been better against righties in his career — and Bellinger allows any manager some flexibility when writing out a lineup card. This year’s average sprint speed of 28.3 ft/sec is down a bit from his peak 28.9 ft/sec from 2017-19, but it’s still well above the league average (77th percentile). Bellinger uses that speed quite efficiently, too; he’s been successful in 82.2% of his career stolen-base attempts and 85% in 2023.
Perhaps most of all in Bellinger’s case, market scarcity will work in his favor. As previously mentioned, beyond Ohtani, there aren’t many hitters of note to pursue this winter. Chapman’s bat has cooled since his blistering start. Teoscar Hernandez entered the year positioned as one of the top free agents on the market but has batted just .250/.297/.423 — the worst full-season performance of his career. Jorge Soler and J.D. Martinez are having strong rebound seasons but are DH-only options. Jeimer Candelario is enjoying a rebound campaign of his own but has nowhere near Bellinger’s track record.
In terms of competition at his position, Bellinger will be going up against oft-injured defensive standouts Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader. Both players are clear alternatives for teams seeking an everyday center fielder, though that’s due more to world-class defense than their offensive aptitude. Neither is as complete a player as Bellinger has been, and Bader has been on the IL three times this year while Kiermaier hasn’t reached 500 plate appearances in a season since 2015 (his only year ever reaching that level).
Perhaps most important of all will be age. Bellinger just turned 28 last month. He won’t turn 29 until next year’s All-Star break. Any team signing Bellinger would be paying up for more of his peak than the usual free agent has to market. Even an eight-year contract would run through Bellinger’s age-35 season. Given his age and the extent of his bounceback this year, it seems likely that he and agent Scott Boras will seek at least one opt-out opportunity in any long-term deal. He’ll surely reject a qualifying offer at season’s end, and while that won’t do his free agency any favors, the QO typically hasn’t been too great an encumbrance on the market’s very top-tier free agents.
No one is going to unseat Ohtani as the most coveted free agent of the upcoming class, but Bellinger increasingly looks like he could be viewed as the next-best position player on the market. His bet on himself has paid off in spades, and as long as he doesn’t completely collapse in the final six-plus weeks of the season, I imagine he’ll hit the market looking to top recent deals signed by George Springer (six years, $150MM), Brandon Nimmo (eight years, $162MM) and Kris Bryant (seven years, $182MM). Whether someone actually approaches or even exceeds $200MM for a player who struggled so substantially from 2021-22 and has a somewhat spotty batted-ball profile in his rebound season remains to be seen. But the mere fact that it’s even worth considering speaks to the magnitude of his rebound campaign at Wrigley.
Yankees – 8/250
I don’t see Bellinger leaving the Cubs. They gotta pick up his option, and make him stay somehow.
It’s a mutual option. The Cubs will exercise it and Bellinger will decline receiving his $5MM buyout. The Cubs will Q.O. him and get declined. Boras will shop him at the Winter Meetings how he’s a once-in-a-lifetime, franchise-altering player deserving an Aaron Judge contract.
He will get the bag and be crap again like many that get a bag!
He was definitely getting complacent before he got non-tendered. That uncertainty lit a fire under his backside. As soon as he gets paid, he’ll get back to concentrating on his family life again.
Spot on YBC. He will still end up a cub though. He’s just the type the cubs love to waste 10s of millions on….
Nonsense. I’ve heard every kind of excuse for not expecting him to rebound when he had a chance to play healthy again but this one takes the cake.
Jeepers creepers! What’s in that bag? Wait was that a bloody sheet?
@Blue, he had shoulder and the effect it had on his already huge swing was it had made it very hard for him to get around on pitches. He seems to have shortened his swing slightly and he also looks to be coming around on the ball much easier. Nothing whatsoever to do with complacency.
He has such a huge ego. Anytime he gets a big hit or anything else good, he always removes his hat so the cameras get a good shot, like the pic at top of page.
He has such a huge ego. Anytime he gets a big hit or anything else good, he always removes his hat so the cameras get a good shot, like the pic at top of page
Examples?
Yeah, he had already changed his mechanics before going to Chicago. Then, he decided to only show up in the playoffs the last couple years. Sounds like complacency to me. That’s why he got non-tendered.
Actually he had only changed hand position in Spring Training prior to last season with the Dodgers. Completely overhauled things this past off season.
dodgerblue.com/dodgers-news-cody-bellinger-changed…
si.com/mlb/dodgers/news/dodgers-cody-bellinger-wor…
So we live in what many call an “information age”. So when you make unsubstantiated assumptions, very often they are easily disproved.
Again as far as your complacency adjustment, the guy already had a risky big swing. He was recovering from injury and that big swing was easily exploited. As far as the playoffs the injury coupled with better pitching on a regular basis with smaller staffs in playoffs and he stood no chance at that time.
Do you even know what it means to have a big swing? Or the ramifications of recovering from a major joint injury on an athletes performance??
Idk if the cubs ought to resign him with happ and Suzuki under contract for a while yet and pca coming in the minors. If you pay him big money to play him mostly at first then that leaves a lot of his value playing cf on the table.
Watch him n the dugout after he hits one out.
If it was celebrating to feed ego it would b done on the field where ego would be stroked the most. Celebrating in the dugout with team is a poor example of someone being egotistical. You are actually supporting argument against your claim of his ego….
He’s getting a huge contract. I think leaving the Cubs is likely.
There is no way he comes back on a one-year deal. Face it, he’s as good as gone. I wouldn’t go more than 3 years because one year doesn’t prove he is back. Some team is going to regret giving him 6 or 7 years. It won’t be the Cubs. Ricketts doesn’t want to go over the luxury tax anyway.
I think Bellinger will leave. But I also thought Happ would leave. I have no idea why the Cubs built up a Farm System if they’re going to keep paying FA’s big money. It doesn’t make any sense. PCA in CF and Mervis at 1B or maybe Happ at 1B IDK. They might have to get creative. And please stop all that nonsense about Ricketts and the Luxury Tax. He’s already said he would go over and unlike Reinsdorf he’s not a big liar. PCA off to a rousing start at AAA and Caissie will be there next year so like I said, Ross will probably have to get real creative but it’s a nice problem to have.
@remember, in his case I’d say it’s pretty likely he is back. He had a notoriously big swing to begin with and after the shoulder surgery he was just not able to get around on pitches quick enough. He seems to have shortened swing a bit and is getting around on ball much quicker. Only thing I see setting him back again is more shoulder troubles.
Highly doubt it. The Yankees will over pay for him. I don’t see the cubs offering him a long term deal
Hate to be a downer, but buyer beware. Only one food sesson out if the last several in a hitter friendly park.
If I were a GM, I wouldn’t be giving him the really long deal like some fot last offseason and regretting already.
Having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if a large market team spent stupid money on him. They love driving up prices for the sport.
Wrigley plays pretty neutral.
Padres – 10/300
I promise you Yankees wont touch Bellinger at more than $18-22 million per over 6-7 yrs and thats even a stretch. With Jones, Pieria, Florial and Dominiguez all knocking on the door for last 2 OF spots in 2024 it’s unlikely they even have an interest in Bellinger.
I disagree the Yankees will definitely have an interest, but definitely won’t spend more then $23 million a year on Bellinger, my guess is he stays in the Windy City with the Cubbies for $20-22 million annually, for over 5 or 6 seasons.
Dude can’t handle pressure. Get him out of LA, and lower the expectations, and he’s fine.
So he’d be fine in the Bronx?
Yea bc the Bronx has lower expectations lol
I never said he was going to the Bronx. That was someone else
@Birdie explain his MVP season in LA…. the stupid stuff people say.
He had one good year, then the pressure to live up to those expectations were too much for him.
That isn’t it at all. Before his shoulder injury he’d handled the pressure well enough to win an MVP.
Me thinks Birdieman has Bats in his Belfry. Start ringing the bell Igor!
He was recovering from injury. I don’t think pressure was the issue.
Don’t forget that in his MVP season he knew what pitches were coming. Not as egregious as what the Astros did, but the Dodgers and Red Sox and likely other teams were using the video to steal signs. I was told off the record by a friend of mine who worked in the Dodgers organization that they were doing that.
Sure, whatever you say… *eyeroll*
Yeah, methinks you are full of nonsense.
It was just egregious. All the teams in the league, at the very least, experimented with it for a time between 2015-2019. One current MLB pitcher said all the playoff teams in 2017 were doing it. Only difference between LA and Houston, is Fiers didn’t play in LA.
This is not true. I’m not even a Dodgers fan, but this is ridiculous.
@jjd002 Stop changing the narrative. All sign stealing is not created equally. The Astros technology was so advanced. No one was doing what they were doing on an organizational scale. It wasn’t even close. That’s why so many teams and players were upset. It’s over now. The Astros are still good. Everyone is happy. But please don’t try to change history.
Then it must be true rememberthecoop if your friend told you that
jjd002 is conspiracy theory guy wearing the tin-foil hat.
@rememberthecoop – That’s a credible source…
The system the Astros used in 2017 came from the Yankees with Carlos Beltran and they had been using it since 2015. We know that for a fact. The only difference was using a trashcan instead of a coach in the dugout to relay signals to the batter.
Maybe he decided baseball was more important than getting high?
Seeing interviews, I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’s as simple as recovering from an injury.
Multiple NLCS game 7 winning HRs really scream can’t handle pressure
A couple of years of .200 BA says he can’t handle it
oh the pressure of playing in LA…
where ppl don’t even know who he is…
@coop. I wouldn’t call anyone a liar but I would also say it’s asking to much of people that are strangers to you just take your word for it. I would only assume you wouldn’t either if the situation was reversed.
@Birdie. I’m not sure how you explain his first three years of success in Los Angeles. Even his 2020 season was solid.
He handled pressure just fine in numerous postseasons, even during his awful 2021 year.
No way the Cubs should resign him. PCA is the centerfielder of the future. Belli is better suited for center than 1st base. The Cubs could use that money to try and find a decent 1st and 3rd base option. Mervis is there in Iowa, but he’s there for a reason. Not to mention they’re gonna need a couple starters to replace Stro and maybe Hendricks. Belli definitely fits the lineup well but those dollars are hopefully allocated elsewhere.
Bellinger was a stop-gap CF signing so that the Cubs could continue to develop PCA, with the hope that he bounced back and provided value for a mid-season trade. It was similar for Hosmer and Mancini (but those didn’t work out), while they hoped Mervis would step up.
Cubs have done better than expected so kept Bellinger but the ultimate outcome is they still get a a compensation draft pick.
His defense is spectacular at 1st and the outfield. I’d take him the next 5-6 years over Mervis. The cubs are definitely going to have to figure out the log jam in the outfield.
@CJML- I think the cubs have to resign Bellinger. Dude swings the best bat on that team since Derrick Lee! I think $210/6yr offering him opt outs after years 2 and 3 gets it done. I would honestly root for Bellinger to play so good that opting out after year two or three is a forgone conclusion. By then maybe Mervis will have developed well enough to be an above average hitter while playing his substandard D at first base. Or depending on how Morel’s career develops, maybe Mervis becomes the defacto DH. Either way that would buy the Cubs at least 2 years to find a better defensive first baseman who also has power.
I do think PCA will be a great CF for us, but I’m still not sure his bat will play up much more than an average hitter with some pop. But he’s got such good tools. Either way, having Bellinger would make it easy to compete the next couple years as our prospects are all making their mlb debuts while getting paid the league minimum that even if they had him for all 6 years that contract would be very affordable. And that’s even with me thinking they might try to extend Candalario and Stroman (who might first have to just not opt out of his contract and accept the terms for ‘24 and pitch well for the cubs before said extension).
Cannot understand why the Yankees didn’t hire him. Was exactly what we needed in every way. Cashman drops the ball AGAIN.
Can’t say this is a yankee blunder per se. the guy was coming off 2 well below league avg seasons. He just found his groove again.
But the Yankees threw 162m at Rodon whose been abysmal
Thats cause Cashman is garbage with a baseball IQ of a canary.
They didn’t want to go over the $293MM threshold and signing Rodon was the priority. Even though public trackers have them slightly over, I think they’ll remain under this season with some accounting sorcery.
Curious to what his next contract will be. If I’m the Cubs I absolutely stay at the table and try to work something out. He has really thrived there.
Where he should go: NYY
Where he will go: NYM or SD $$$$
Mets are now out of Bellinger Sweepstakes. Cohen has to sign 3 starting pitchers this off-season, and SP costs more than any other positions other than handful of superstar players. Pads have to sign Snell and Hader first before they can think about bidding for Bellinger. I can see the Yankees making the bid for him though.
gogoblue: I can see it now- the nyy sign Bellinger, in part because he’s already clean-shaven. At his press conference Bellinger proclaims that it’s always been his dream to play for the yank’s, just like they all do. Then he’ll go the way of Rodon who, after pledging his undying love for the nyy, has spent almost the entire season on the IL. After signing , Bellinger’s shoulder injury will make a return appearance and he’ll spend the length of his contract playing a very difficult game of H-O-R-S-E with Rodon.
Snell is overrated
Maybe the Padres, Astros or the Yankees will sign Bellinger, but Cohen will not break the bank for Bellinger in 2024. Look for the Mutts in 2025 to get competitive again. Cohen already said so already.
Captain-Judge how would you feel about him
In pinstripes? 1B or RF? I think he could murder that ballpark
So exactly how has Bellinger gone from a poor player to an excellent one? Not feeling pressure? Less injury load? Some type of hitting “adjustment?” Seems too tenuous to invest in.
Agreed. Alittle sudden, his resurgency. Ideally you would want at least one more half season next season. Maybe a full one. But agents will go gangbusters with this guy. Wanting top dollar. Let the bidding begin !
Talent and playing free of injury does it for most players. Funny how many fans don’t seem to get that.
A short term contract; he stayed hungry. Give him what he wants and he’ll forget how to be competitive again. This plays out year after year after year in MLB.
or he stopped getting high on game days…
This has played out well for the Cubs the same way it did for SF and Rodon. They have to let him walk. Sign him long term and they’ll probably have another Jason Heyward on their hands.
Think he’s worth Swanson/ Bryant money. He’s playing smart baseball not swinging for the fences.
Shoulder injuries are not a fast heal. He also got into bad habits at the dish. 7 years is a good bet.
Between a Springer and Bryant deal with an opt-out after two years.
He should swing for the fences. Or, as is the case at Wrigley, the baskets.
Anyone that gives him a long term deal is not bright. The guy is capable of putting together a hot streak like this season, but the MVP candidate is not there anymore. One little thing is off with his swing and he’s a below average hitter, but when it is clicking he’s good. However without knowing what pitch is coming and the juiced ball he won’t be an MVP candidate. However, without looking it up I would assume the shift ban has helped him a ton.
However without knowing what pitch is coming. YAWN where’s your evidence? So sound like a tool.
Shelled: Just so you’ll know for the future, a tool is someone who can be used to get what you want.
Can’t claim sign-stealing now that he’s in Chicago. So it must be a hot streak. Whatever fits your narrative….
Your comment doesn’t really make sense. Most of the Astros players continued to hit after they stopped doing it too. My comment was fact based. He’s a major leaguer and many major leaguers are capable of a few good seasons. By the MVP Bellinger is no more.
Because you said so. With your “facts”. The man who can see into the future. You need to give us the numbers for the next powerball draw, Mr. Know-It-All.
People are acting like shoulder injuries are just this bounce back thing. It’s a death knell for most player’s careers. Bellinger is fortunate to rebound at all. I’m happy for him.
I’d be down for the braves to go after him, or the Korean standout lee. Shoot the way Rosario has been playing as of late I wouldn’t mind keeping him around again for another year. If we decide to lower the offense a bit and go for a better defensive minded outfielder I also wouldn’t mind the braves targeting bader. There are definitely options this year. I know this free agent class lacks the star power as previous offseasons but there are still some quality big leaguers the braves could target that would help us out even if it means like I said bringing Rosario back for another year, or shoot testing grissom as a left fielder, he’s still young enough and athletic enough to make the change of position work for him, it might take a while but at some point he could become a very good outfielder especially if his offense translates like it has in the minors this year, or his first big league season. Or we could use him as trade bait to get a coveted left fielder. Like I said there are options, and plenty of them, and I know AA will capitalize on one of them!
The way the Braves offense has been, I would think they would prioritize pitching. I think they pick up Rosario’s option for $9 million which is cheaper than Bellinger’s $17.5 million he got this year before this bounce back season. The Braves could potentially have Rosario and Bader platoon LF against left handed pitching for a cheaper price than Bellingers going to be.
I wouldn’t mind that at all to be honest, I was just throwing out options I wouldn’t mind seeing the braves go for and if it means sticking with Rosario and teaching Vaughn how to be an outfielder I wouldn’t mind at all.
As a Braves fan I’d rather see something like that with Eddie and trying Vaughn out there than Bader. See how that works before bringing in anyone from outside, and just get a little bit of pitching.
Ugly swing? Seems to be doing just fine with it again this year. Ohtani has a pretty unconventional, “ugly” swing too but it clearly works for him.
If I were a GM that wanted him id average his stats out over 4 years and offer that. He’s too inconsistent to roll out the brinks truck. But he was fun to watch in LA, too bad it didn’t work out longer
Belli must have cut back on the recreational dispensary’s.
🙁
Him and Cole Tucker smoke a lot
🙁 🙁
You mean Kyle Tucker?
I think the Cubs should thank him for all the value they got for the season and walk away, assuming he doesn’t also activate his option. Otherwise, let someone else roll the dice on just how much of his production he can repeat.
The Cubs will never get this kind of value from Bellange again but because of all those pretty numbers he will probably get overpaid. He might even become negative value if he can’t reproduce enough of his current production the next several seasons. Not worth the risk.
Some team is going to sign the 28 year old Bellinger to an 8 year and $220-240 million deal and immediately be sorry when his numbers regress to around what he produced in 2018.
Why, are you planning on dislocating his shoulder or breaking his leg again?
Don’t have to. The article points out exactly why we will see regression in his hitting.
Well, it doesn’t really — but if you’re going to use the word regression you have to at least be able to state regression to what. To his career line? To his line before the injuries? That’s what regression means. The other thing we have to remember with all LHBs is how they’re benefitting from the end of the shift. Last year, I was told every day until Wednesday that it wasn’t going to help Bellinger at all, even if he finally got a chance to play healthy. It was a totally silly argument, and now completely disproved by results, but there it is. Still.
Is an 8-year deal for $220MM that bad for 2018 production of 3.5 fWAR with a ceiling of his 2019 7.8?
having watched his high heights and low lows i’m happy for him. always thought his troubles were largely mental after his shoulder healed.
yet as far as a long term investment i’d think teams would be hesitant to go more than 3 years w concerns he could lose it again just as well as continue to improve.
what little i’ve seen of his Cub highlights still look like that swing can be exploited and he starts that desperate flailing again idk
He’s gonna get overpaid on his contract this offseason and immediately take again. Calling it now. He has the ugliest swing in baseball. It justifies why he struggles more often than not and blows my mind when he finds success
I give both belli and candy 4 years
Belli 4/100 candy 4/60 sign fulmer and get othani trade Madrigal and Patric get get 2 top reliever and sign giolito done
Not sure if anyone agrees but when I saw Bellinger’s decline with LA, I had an overwhelming feeling that his career WAS NOT over and sure enough I was right.
He was too good to just plummet the way he did permanently. I didn’t expect him to come back this great but I knew he would at least bounce back. He’d be a great fit for the Yankees
He’ll do plenty of damage with that short porch in right.
Bellinger’s swing is also a beauty. I’d love to see him on the Yankees
Cody’s resurgence coincides with his walk year. The team dumb enough to give him a Boras contract will regret it
2022 was also his walk year.
Matt Chapman will be 31 next April and may be entering a decline phase. He’s the archetypical Cashman signing.
l’m sure the Yankees will try to get both Chapman and Bellinger.
Sleeper: Giants. I can see them jumping in on the bidding, possibly coming out on top.
Cubs won’t overpay to keep him but will make a great offer, The only one out of Bryant Rizzo and Baez who got more than what Cubs offered was Bryant who actually never got an offer
Afraid after Boone n cash-man get the kibosh hal is gonna be tight w/loot, PR dept will frame it as “let the kids play” but its really bout pinching pennies, not sure there’s much to work w/dwn on the farm, yanks prospects seem 2B sum of most overhyped when all is said n done, who’s next GM n Manager ?
Cannot stand the way this hack Steve Adams writes. He needs to go because he has no idea how to use punctuation correctly
Using “but” to start the sentence means THERE SHOULD BE NO COMMA AFTER IT.
Using “and” to start the sentence means THERE SHOULD BE NO COMMA AFTER IT.
THERE SHOULD BE NO COMMA BEFORE THE WORD TOO.
JFC, learn this or find a different line of work, Adams.
There is no reason MLBTR should be wasting their time writing garbage like this.
Yet again, another half-hearted attempt at statistical analysis that comes off as MLBTR desperately trying to be Fangraphs because all they do is regurgitate stats. No real transaction bend to the article, which is where MLBTR actually makes novel original content. There actually COULD be a reason to do all this statistical regurgitation IF the article was framed as what Bellinger could get on a new contract. THAT is what MLBTR is good at. Instead they write something about a Cub that belongs on a Cubs-centric site or at a stats-based site, not at the premier place for transaction discussion. Stay in your lane.
The analysis and article as a whole are milquetoast. Stop it. It looks pathetic.
Bellinger is working with Matt Holliday in the off-season at the Oklahoma State facilities. Barring injury he’s as safe going forward as anyone. Regression to the mean, aside.