Former Dodgers Fan Favorite Signs With Chicago Cubs
The best remaining free-agent position player is off the market.
Cody Bellinger, the former Dodger fan favorite who turned his career around with a bounceback 2023 season, ended his holdout by agreeing to re-sign with the Chicago Cubs.
ESPN's Jeff Passan was the first to break the news on this Saturday evening.
Bellinger is coming off a season in which he batted .307 with 26 home runs and 97 RBIs for the Chicago Cubs. He finished 10th in National League MVP voting. In recognition of his revitalized swing, Bellinger received a Players' Choice Award from the MLBPA as the NL's Comeback Player of the Year.
Now, he’ll receive a sizable raise from his $12.5 million base salary in 2023.
Bellinger hit .210 with 19 home runs for the Dodgers in 2022 and was non-tendered after the season. It was the final act in the Dodgers career of a player who was drafted in 2013, won the 2017 National League Rookie of the Year award, and captured the NL MVP award two years later.
Overall, Bellinger batted .248 and reached base at a .332 clip in six seasons with the Dodgers. He hit 152 home runs and drove in 519.
However, Bellinger was a shell of his former self at the plate in the wake of a shoulder injury he sustained celebrating a home run in the 2020 NLCS. Bellinger followed up his 2020 campaign, in which he hit 12 home runs in 56 games, with 10 homers and a .165 average in 2021. He missed 67 games that year due to injuries.
The Dodgers were always a longshot to re-sign Bellinger coming off his big season in Chicago. Center fielder James Outman was the runner-up to the National League Rookie of the Year award last year in center field, Bellinger’s primary position.
The Dodgers filled out the rest of their outfield depth chart by re-signing Jason Heyward, trading for Manuel Margot, and signing Teoscar Hernández to a one-year contract.
With Freddie Freeman signed through 2027, Bellinger was also blocked from playing first base, his original position in Los Angeles.
