Teams Balking At Cody Bellinger Asking Price, Cubs Remain Favorites

[Brock Beauchamp]

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, in his typically-great free agent roundup, ran through remaining free agents in the wake of the Josh Hader deal in Houston.

It appears Cody Bellinger and his agent Scott Boras are still pursuing a deal in excess of $200 million, which is the reason he remains unsigned. The Blue Jays remain very interested but are balking at that price tag. Cubs' President of Baseball Operations, Jed Hoyer, is remaining patient in hopes that Bellinger's price will drop in either years or total dollars.

Feinsand remains optimistic that the Cubs are still the most likely landing spot for the 28 year old center fielder.

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[We Got The Whole 9]

There's absolutely no way a team is going to give him an 8 year deal. Jed will go with Tauchman and PCA unless he dramatically drops his price.

[Jssanto]

On 1/22/2024 at 12:17 PM, We Got The Whole 9 said:

There's absolutely no way a team is going to give him an 8 year deal. Jed will go with Tauchman and PCA unless he dramatically drops his price.

I hope you are correct.

But even if we sign Beli, we are a wash for the off-season. 

Lost Stroman and picked up Imanga.

Lost Beli and resigned Beli (if we do).

None of this is really the positive many of us wanted. It gets worse as both St. Loius and Milwaukee have added.

[Bull]

On 1/24/2024 at 11:29 AM, Jssanto said:

I hope you are correct.

But even if we sign Beli, we are a wash for the off-season. 

Lost Stroman and picked up Imanga.

Lost Beli and resigned Beli (if we do).

None of this is really the positive many of us wanted. It gets worse as both St. Loius and Milwaukee have added.

Lost the black hole at 1B, picked up PCA/Busch. Even if there are significant developmental bumps (and holding out hope that that the nincompoopery on the basepaths is over) that pair has to be better than Hosmer/Mancini, and will have a much shorter leash if they are not.

Remember, this was a 59-47 team from June on, and that includes the bullpen abuse under Ross leading to a 12-16;September. Even with the meltdown, that’s a 90 win team over a full season. 
 

This team is leaps ahead in bullpen depth and has a manager that can manage a bullpen. Ross was to bullpens what Dusty Baker was to starting rotations. In fact, my biggest concern on the team is “did Rossy irreparably damage Leiter et al?”

So now, ostensibly better than the 90-win-pace team we fell in love with. That’s assuming the Bellinger signing. So I guess I’m saying a wash ain’t so bad.

 

[Outshined_One]

On 1/24/2024 at 10:29 AM, Jssanto said:

But even if we sign Beli, we are a wash for the off-season. 

It really comes down to how you feel about who is likely to decline versus who is likely to improve from last season, and also whether you think Counsell will be a meaningful upgrade from Ross.  For comparison's sake, here's last season's opening day roster (keeping in mind Seiya started the season on the IL).

Assuming Bellinger signs, the Cubs are looking at likely upgrades at 1B (which was a catastrophe from Opening Day onward) and the bullpen compared to 2023.  You can also make arguments for improvements at 3B and the rotation in 2024, although you can also make arguments for regression for either (or both).

The only major downgrade this team might have compared to last season's opening day roster would be CF if Bellinger doesn't sign, and even then, plenty of people are predicting PCA having an NLROY season and there's still the possibility Jed signs one of the other Boras FAs.

It's all a matter of perspective, but I can talk myself into predicting 90 wins for this team if I'm willing to be optimistic.  I can't say the same for myself for this time last year, when I thought 81 wins was a massive stretch for 2023.