After struggling through another season, Cody Bellinger was viewed by many as a candidate to be non-tendered by the Los Angeles Dodgers. The deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is 5 p.m. PT on Friday.
In three season since being voted MVP, Bellinger has failed to produce at expected levels. He rebounded in some regard this year but the peripherals still were concerning.
Bellinger was on track to go through the arbitration process for the fourth and final time of his career. He began that as a Super Two player and set a then-record for a first-time arbitration player with an $11.5 million salary for 2020; that wound up being prorated because of the shortened MLB season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
He then earned a raise to $16.1 million in 2021, and $17 million for this past season.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Dodgers intend to non-tender Bellinger:
The Dodgers plan to non-tender outfielder Cody Bellinger, making him a free agent, source tells @TheAthletic. Team could still re-sign him for less than his projected arbitration salary in the $18M range.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 18, 2022
Had the Dodgers tendered a contract to Bellinger to move forward with the salary arbitration process, he figured to receive a salary in the neighborhood of $17 to $20 million. MLB Trade Rumors projected Bellinger would receive an $18.1 million salary for 2023.
MLB rules would have allowed for the possibility of a pay cut up to 20%, but that didn’t seem likely considering Bellinger’s statistics were improved from 2021.
Although Bellinger is a free agent, remaining with the organization that drafted him is still a possibility. The Dodgers conceivably could sign Bellinger to a multi-year contract that would be more team friendly and indicative of his prolonged struggles.
The Dodgers selected Bellinger in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB Draft, and he made his MLB debut in 2017.
Cody Bellinger free agency interest
As teams awaited to learn which direction the Dodgers would go in with Bellinger, the Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays were mentioned as having interest in the 2019 National League MVP.
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