Bellinger and his agent, Scott Boras, are saying (if not thinking) all the right things about the former MVP’s return to Chicago on a deal that fell far below expectations.
This is exactly the deal Cody Bellinger wanted. Just listen to him.
“Presumably at the beginning of the winter, you sort of imagined what you thought the winter would look like and how things would play out,” I said during Wednesday’s press conference at the Cubs’ spring-training facility in Arizona with regard to the three-year, $80 million contract Bellinger signed with Chicago earlier this week. That sum landed something like six years and $100 million south of what some outlets projected. “How close was what actually happened to what you envisioned in October or November?”Bellinger turned silently to his left, where his agent, Scott Boras, was sitting.
“That’s for Cody,” I added.
Bellinger continued to stare at Boras, who eventually answered on his client’s behalf. “When you go into these things, there are variables,” he said. “What are the variables? And the variables relate to teams. We have some irregularities going on in this current market. We have close to 11 teams that are spending less money than they did a year ago on competitiveness—in light of the fact that we have record revenues in baseball. And when you have that irregularity ongoing, that obviously is something that—we had, I think, 15 contracts of four years or more signed in ’22, and then in [’23] the same. This year we’ve had four for American players and five for foreign players. [By FanGraphs’ count, 16 players who were in the major leagues in the previous year and two who were not got four or more years in ’22, 15 and two in ’23 and six and five in ’24.]
“So when you look at this, there are dynamics that are ongoing. And in fairness, owners, they may like to get to spring training, they might like to evaluate. They may like to look at things and then act. But there has been a hesitation in the Major League auto, where they’re using three gears instead of four for competitiveness.”
Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers did manage to extract an answer from Bellinger about whether he had hoped to sign a longer deal.
“I think there’s definitely that thought that goes into it,” Bellinger said. “And you know, like I said, I think that ultimately that’s the goal. And so I talked to Scott continuously and [saw] what was going on. And you know, at the end of the day, super excited how it all worked out. And you know, like yes, obviously, but very excited with it all and very happy to get down here.”
Bellinger is in what must be a frustrating position. He was the 2017 National League Rookie of the Year and the ’19 MVP with the Dodgers; he plays Gold Glove–caliber defense at two positions; he is 28, hit .307 and slugged .525 last season in a prove-it year with the Cubs. He did prove it. But he also had surgery for a dislocated right shoulder from a too-enthusiastic high five in ’20, missed two months after breaking his left leg in a collision in ’21 and hit .193 over two years, leading Los Angeles to non-tender him after ’22. So no team trusted him enough to give him the nine-figure, decade-long deal he sought.
“I trust myself as a baseball player to go out every single day and do what I can to help the team win,” he said.
News
(VIDEO) ¡Jennifer Lopez SE VUELVE LOCA tras la FILTRACIÓN del AUDIO de FR3AKOFF con Diddy!
(VIDEO) ¡Jennifer Lopez SE VUELVE LOCA tras la FILTRACIÓN del AUDIO de FR3AKOFF con Diddy! Jennifer Lopez, conocida popularmente como J.Lo, ha vuelto a estar en el centro de atención, esta vez debido a la reciente detención de su ex…
¡Increíble! Filtran video de Michael Jackson y Diddy en un “Freak Off” que deja a todos boquiabiertos
Filtran grabación de Michael Jackson y Diddy en un “Freak Off” y Paris Jackson reacciona indignada por segunda vez: “Créeme, Diddy realmente lo hizo…” En un sorprendente giro de los acontecimientos, ha salido a la luz un video filtrado que…
¡Yahir y María León revientan las redes!; les piden que sean novios
Los cantantes se mostraron muy cercanos y enloquecieron las redes sociales. Yahir y María León generaron una gran expectativa en las redes sociales, desatando rumores sobre un posible romance entre ellos, aunque lo que parecía una escena cargada de fuerte…
Tommy Mottola, esposo de Thalía ¿vinculado a las fiestas depravadas de Sean Diddy? Laura Zapata habla de ello
¡Laura Zapata destapa su verdad acerca de Tommy Mottola y las fiestas secretas de Diddy! Sean Diddy Combs, Thalia y Tommy Mottola y Laura ZapataLaura Zapata se pronuncia sobre los rumores que vinculan a Tommy Mottola con las polémicas fiestas organizadas por…
Cynthia Klitbo y Laura Zapata protagonizan fuerte enfrentamiento en ‘Secretos de villanas 3′
El reality show se ha vuelto tendencia en redes tras la intensa discusión entre ambas actrices, quienes sacaron a la luz viejas rencillas personales. Facebook: Laura Zapata/ Facebook: Cynthia Klitbo El drama no para en la tercera temporada de Secretos de villanas,…
Nodal No Soportó que Ángela Aguilar Imitara a Cazzu en su Cumpleaños 21
Ángela Aguilar y la extraña obsesión con la ex de Nodal: ¿Crisis en el paraíso? El romance entre Christian Nodal y Ángela Aguilar ha sido el centro de atención en los últimos meses, con una reciente celebración que dio mucho…
End of content
No more pages to load