The Dodgers want an outfielder. Cody Bellinger is out there.
So, eight years faraway from his Rookie of the Yr arrival, six years since his 2019 MVP marketing campaign, and three years after an unceremonious finish to his Dodgers tenure, might the staff and its once-beloved homegrown slugger truly reunite this winter?
It’s not unimaginable, with the Dodgers believed to have Bellinger on their radar as they consider their choices in free company.
In an offseason of huge potentialities, however up to now tempered expectations from the Dodgers’ entrance workplace, Bellinger represents one thing of a wild card within the staff’s potential winter plans.
He isn’t the highest outfielder on this 12 months’s market, which is headlined by former Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Tucker and the $400 million-plus bidding battle he’s anticipated to set off.
However, for a staff just like the Dodgers, Bellinger may very well be a greater (and extra acquainted) match, offering the sort of positional versatility and monetary flexibility somebody like Tucker wouldn’t.
Granted, the seriousness of the Dodgers’ curiosity in Bellinger, which was first reported by ESPN, stays unclear. However the mere risk will make it one of many extra intriguing early subplots of the winter, representing one probably splashier choice for the membership to contemplate in pursuit of 2026 roster upgrades.
Thus far of the offseason, in fact, the Dodgers have signaled a reluctance so as to add extra profitable, long-term, free-agent contracts to their steadily growing old core. It’s proven up of their pursuit of relievers, with their desire seemingly being a shorter-term deal after being burned by massive bullpen spending final 12 months. It has additionally influenced the way in which they’ve seen the outfield market, cooling summer-long expectations that they might be main contenders within the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes.
In spite of everything, the Dodgers have two beginning outfielders at present on their roster in Teoscar Hernández (who’s coming into the second of his three-year, $66 million deal) and Andy Pages (who’s coming off a 27-homer marketing campaign in his second MLB season). They’ve loads of depth choices on the place, from Alex Name to Ryan Ward to the flexibility offered by utility gamers Tommy Edman and Hyeseong Kim (and perhaps even backup catcher Dalton Dashing, who might experiment within the outfield once more in 2026).
Cody Bellinger was the NL Rookie of the Yr in 2017 and the NL MVP in 2019, however struggled in his previous few seasons with the Dodgers.
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Additionally they, importantly, have a promising wave of outfield prospects anticipated to achieve the majors within the subsequent 2-3 years, a gaggle headlined by Josue De Paula (the highest prospect of their farm system); Eduardo Quintero (their 2025 minor-league hitter of the 12 months); Zyhir Hope, Mike Sirota, James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard (promising skills acquired in trades over the past two years); and Charles Davalan and Kendall George (current first-round draft picks).
The staff would nonetheless like so as to add one other outfielder, doubtless of the left-handed-hitting selection, to the combination in 2026. It’s hopeful of discovering an improved substitute for Michael Conforto, after his woeful efficiency on a one-year, $17 million deal final season.
On the identical time, although, the Dodgers wish to protect their longer-term flexibility on the place — making their odds of giving somebody like Tucker the 10-year contract he’s anticipated to obtain seem doubtful at finest.
Bellinger, nevertheless, supplies a distinct free-agent proposition.
He’s a few years older than Tucker, set to show 31 subsequent season, however can also be prone to obtain a contract of roughly half the size and far much less assured cash; pegged by most projections to be within the 5-6 12 months and $150-$175 million vary (although he might fairly surpass these figures if his market materializes effectively).
Crucially, Bellinger additionally gives positional flexibility. At current, he can play all three outfield spots, and stays a plus-defender within the corners. Down the road, he might ultimately shift to first base, making him (for a staff just like the Dodgers) a possible future successor to Freddie Freeman.
One other key issue: Bellinger is a a lot completely different participant than he was when the Dodgers declined to tender him a contract on the finish of the 2022 season.
Again then, Bellinger was coming off two straight years of subpar efficiency within the wake of a shoulder surgical procedure following the 2020 World Sequence. Between 2021 and 2022, he hit .193, struck out greater than 27% of the time, and had an OPS+ of 66 (a sophisticated metric during which 100 is taken into account league common).
The final three years, then again, have seen the previous MVP winner stage a mid-career revival. Whereas taking part in for the Chicago Cubs (who signed Bellinger forward of the 2023 season) and New York Yankees (who traded for him final offseason), he hit .281, struck out simply 15% of the time, and had an OPS+ of 125. Final season, he additionally hit 29 residence runs, his most since gathering 47 in his 2019 MVP season.
Granted, Bellinger did profit from the hitter-friendly atmosphere at Yankee Stadium, the place he had 18 of his lengthy balls final 12 months. He additionally doesn’t hit the ball as routinely laborious as in his peak years with the Dodgers. But, he has improved his strategy, honed extra constant swing mechanics, and balanced out his platoon splits, batting .353 towards left-handed pitching in 2025.
These strides served as a reminder of Bellinger’s tantalizing expertise, in addition to an indication of his rising maturation as he enters his tenth 12 months within the majors.
The query now: Whether or not it’s going to all be sufficient for the Dodgers to make a authentic run at bringing him again.
The character of free company, in fact, means Bellinger remains to be prone to land elsewhere this winter. He’s anticipated to area huge curiosity on the open market, beginning with the incumbent Yankees (particularly if their different free-agent outfielder, Trent Grisham, turns down a qualifying provide). The Dodgers, in the meantime, stay higher positioned to discover the commerce marketplace for an outfield addition, possessing the sort of highly-rated farm system that would make them an element for everybody from Steven Kwan to Brandon Donovan to Jarren Duran.
If Bellinger had been to draw his personal bidding battle, the Dodgers would doubtless be reluctant to overpay (at the very least of their view) for his providers.
However for now, the potential for a reunion does at the very least seemingly exist — due to Bellinger’s versatile match, current resurgence and lingering familiarity with the franchise.
Years faraway from his breakout, then flame-out, throughout his first tenure with the Dodgers, he might wind up of their winter plans once more this offseason.
