The future of star player Shohei Ohtani will certainly be the one that will receive the most attention this offseason. Closely followed by the next destination of one of MLB’s top managers, Craig Counsell.
Speaking of destination, that of outfielder and first baseman Cody Bellinger will also be among the situations to watch closely this winter.
The rebounder after two very difficult years with the Los Angeles Dodgers currently has a .320 batting average with 23 homers, 84 RBIs and a .916 OPS.
It’s quite a resurgence with the Chicago Cubs and several teams will be lining up to acquire his services when the free agent market opens.
Among them, his current team. Indeed, after having retained the rights of the former MVP at the trade deadline, the Cubs will want to keep him in Chicago in order to continue the work begun by the Illinois team this season.
The asking price will be high, easily exceeding $200 million, possibly even crossing the $300 million mark. The Bear Cubs can certainly afford it.
Speaking of money, the New York Yankees will definitely be in the dance too, as Bellinger would fill a desperate need in left field. It remains to be seen if owner Hal Steinbrenner will put his hand in his pocket to finally have a chance to win a first World Series since 2009.
Two other organizations that are likely to be aggressive are the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. However, it would be very surprising to see Bellinger wearing the uniform of one of these two teams.
First of all, as my colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois puts it so well, since when did the Giants get their hands on stars? With the exception of Arson Judge and Carlos Correa for a week of course.
And as for the Padres, they already have the Juan Soto file on their hands, so I don’t think they’re going to go into an auction for a need they don’t have.
You will tell me that the latter do not always sign the players they need, and you are right, but there are limits and the limit has been reached.
All this to say that it will be interesting to follow developments regarding Bellinger’s contract situation in the coming months.
