After an amazing bounce-back 2023 season, Cody Bellinger is a free agent and understandably looking for a serious payday after his one-year deal with the Cubs.
Cody Bellinger came to the Cubs coming off of absolutely abysmal 2021 and 2022 seasons. He signed a modest one-year “prove it” deal with hopes of regaining some of the shine he once had in his younger MVP and Rookie of the Year seasons. He definitely rebounded as a Cub. He had his best year since his 2019 MVP season in just about every stat that matters. He even had his career high in batting average and steals and a career low in strikeouts over a full 162 game season. So, he absolutely earned the right to try and get his money, and him and his agent, Scott Boras, are taking advantage of it.
Bob Nightengale, from USA Today, wrote a piece on what to look for during the winter meetings going on this week and he makes mention of what Cody Bellinger is looking for on the open market. He says Bellinger is looking for “excess of 250 million.” Because of that, Nightengale listed him as one of the free agents who could remain unsigned the longest.
There have been some not-so-subtle hints from his agent Boras that Bellinger wouldn’t be settling. Earlier in the off-season when asked about the Cubs and the possibility of re-signing with the team he would say:
When we came to Chicago, he just feasted on Major League pitching.” “I think Chicago got the comforts of a ‘Full Belli.’ So they’re going to have to loosen their belts to keep Bellinger.”
Some very interesting wordplay from the always-outgoing agent, but they are holding on that stance.
As of now, it seems a bit far fetched that he would get that type of money. Most every contract prediction for Bellinger has him sitting somewhere in the 150-175 million range, with a few outliers. It’s just hard to see someone, especially the Cubs, paying that kind of money for Cody Bellinger with his very recent struggles and middling hitting peripherals, But, you never know and you can’t knock them for trying. Maybe someone will buy in and “loosen the belts” for Bellinger.
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