Dodgers News: LA Failed to Find Trade Partner Ahead of Cody Bellinger Decision
Yesterday was the deadline for MLB clubs to non-tender or tender their player's contracts, and the Dodgers decided to non-tender their homegrown talent, Cody Bellinger.
Belli will now be a free agent and could resign with the Dodgers. However, it would be for a salary much lower than the $18 million he was projected to receive in arbitration if they tendered his contract.
OC Register's Bill Plunkett spoke with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman and said he tried to find a trade partner to deal the former Rookie of the Year and MVP.
Friedman also acknowledged that the Dodgers pursued a potential trade that would have brought them some return for Bellinger before making him a free agent but "obviously, the non-tender meant that we didn't line up on anything."
It makes sense for the Dodgers to try and get something in return. At the same time, MLB teams probably knew the Dodgers would non-tender him, so why give up something when you could get him for free?
Plunkett mentioned that the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, and other squads are interested in the two-time All-Star.
Cody Bellinger is still a name, and he's a tremendous defender, so teams will be interested in that.
The question is if his bat will come back at a consistent rate. The reason for his last three horrible seasons is because of his bat.
Los Angeles is known to revitalize players' careers, so if you can't do it with the Dodgers, I don't see anywhere else he could thrive.
Will Cody be willing to take a lower amount of dollars to stay in LA, or will he take his chances elsewhere?
