Bellinger again carries Cubs to victory, but will they be able to afford to re-sign him?
In July, Cody Bellinger was clearly enjoying his time with the Cubs, but acknowledged he was well aware of what might happen at the trade deadline.
Now the Cubs are very happy with their decision to keep him in blue pinstripes, but management knows there's a serious threat ahead. After signing a one-year deal last winter, Bellinger will be a free agent after the season and it's possible the Cubs could end up losing their best player.
Bellinger was the difference-maker Saturday, hitting a pair of opposite-field home runs and knocking in 4 of the 6 runs during the Cubs' 6-4 victory over Kansas City at Wrigley Field.
“Putting the lineup on his back is kind of what he does,” Cubs manager David Ross said after the game. “The Belli story is our offense kind of goes as he goes. He's just really, really important.”
No argument there, and surely others have taken notice. Bellinger's agent Scott Boras talked about his client to the New York Post this week, so it's safe to say Bellinger will be a Yankees' target this winter, especially if they whiff on Shohei Ohtani.
Boras told the Post that Bellinger is “ahead of everyone” in the 2024 free-agent class due to age. But that's not really true since both Bellinger and Ohtani are 28 and between the two, Ohtani is the only all-star caliber pitcher.
“I actually don't try to think that far ahead,” Bellinger said after the game. “For me, we have 40-something games left and we're in a playoff race and that's really the only thing I'm focusing on is going out every day and trying to help this team win.”
How much it will take to re-sign Bellinger is an important question. The Post story compared the multi-positional star to Mookie Betts, who signed a massive 12-year, $365-million deal with the Dodgers in July 2020. The premise was Bellinger is headed toward the third .900-plus OPS season of his career, just like Betts.
But that's not a perfect comparison. Betts posted a .900 OPS three years in a row from 2018-20, the first two with Boston. Bellinger's .900 OPS seasons were spread over seven years. He hit the mark during his rookie year of 2017, when the Dodgers rolled past the Cubs in the NLCS.
It happened again in 2019 when Bellinger won NL MVP with a monster stat line of .305, 47 home runs and 115 RBI. He then had two disappointing seasons in 2021-22, hitting just .165 with 10 home runs in ‘21.
Boras told the New York Post Bellinger shouldn't have played in 2021 because of a shoulder injury, which happened while celebrating a home run in Game 7 of the 2021 NLCS.
“I definitely, looking back, would have taken a little more time (off), as opposed to trying to get ready for opening day,” Bellinger said Saturday. “It's my first-ever surgery and I had no idea. It is what it is. It's a long time ago and I'm looking forward.”
After this performance, Bellinger is hitting .326 with 20 home runs and 63 RBI for the Cubs. He won't approach his 2019 power numbers, but this is also a thin free-agent year when it comes to hitters. The seven-year, $177-million deal the Cubs gave Dansby Swanson last year feels like the floor for Bellinger, and the Yankees or other teams could drive the price much higher.
“It's been a fun year,” he said. “It was fun when I started in January, got off on the right foot. Love Wrigley, it's a great organization. It really is great here.”
Bellinger's home runs came in his first 2 at-bats and helped push the Cubs to an early 6-1 lead. Starting pitcher Justin Steele completed 6 innings with 2 earned runs allowed. The Royals added single runs against Julian Merryweather and Michael Fulmer before Adbert Alzolay converted his 13th consecutive save.
This was Steele's 23rd start of the season. He'll match last year's total with his next outing.
“I just try to show up every day, put my hat on, go to work and give my team the best chance to win that day,” Steele said. “I really try to take pride in that. When the ball's handed to me, give the team a good chance to win that day and I felt like we did a good job of that today.”
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports