Who’s going to blink on Bellinger? MLB’s best remaining free agent bat seeking well over $200 million
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
When agent Scott Boras has multiple puns ready about a free agent of his, it usually means he has a good one. That certainly is the case for 28-year-old Cody Bellinger, who possesses the best left-handed production of any player left available.
Bellinger, at least according to Boras, is the “belle of the ball” this winter after providing a “full Belly” for the Chicago Cubs last season, winning the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award and a Silver Slugger. Now, it’s time for him to cash in after signing a one-year, $17.5 million contract with Chicago before the 2023 season.
That doesn’t mean anything is close at hand for the 2019 NL MVP, though, as the history of bigger-name Boras clients suggests a drawn-out affair. Bellinger isn’t likely to be celebrating Christmas or even New Year’s with his new team.
“My experience with [Boras] is that he asks for a big number of dollars and years and doesn’t budge for quite a while,” one NL executive said. “He’s not afraid to carry a guy into February or March as a free agent. Then he figures it only takes one team to blink and they usually do.”
So who’s going to blink on Bellinger?
Several left-handed sluggers have already changed teams or signed free agent contracts this offseason. The New York Yankees checked a desperately needed box with the acquisition of Juan Soto in a blockbuster trade with the San Diego Padres. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed MLB’s top free agent, Shohei Ohtani, to a $700 million deal. And the San Francisco Giants inked Korea Baseball Organization MVP Jung Hoo Lee.
Those moves leave the Toronto Blue Jays and Cubs — teams that came up short in the Ohtani sweepstakes — as Bellinger’s potential top suitors. Boras has made his sales pitch to teams across the GM and winter meetings, using two other clients — Corey Seager and Bryce Harper — as Bellinger’s comps.
“What have they done after they’ve signed when they’re 28?” Boras said at the winter meetings earlier this month. “Harper got better. Seager has gotten better. It tells you that those kinds of players, who can do that at such a young age, actually get better beyond what they did at a younger age, once they’re healthy and returned to play.”
It’s telling, said another executive, that Boras blew right by former Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, who won an MVP at 24 years old and then battled injuries before signing a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Colorado Rockies at 29. Bryant has played just 122 games across two seasons in Colorado, with an OPS+ of 93.
That career arc mimics Bellinger’s — including the injuries — though Bellinger is hitting free agency a year younger and from the more coveted left side of the plate. He also had an OPS+ of 133 last season, while Bryant had a 124 OPS+ before hitting the market.
Meanwhile, Harper and Seager both signed for more than $300 million. That’s the air Boras is living in right now.
“It reminds me of Seager’s free agency,” Boras told ESPN recently. “Seager got hurt in his platform season. Cody had a great platform season.”
Boras believes chatter that Bellinger won’t repeat his .307/.356/.525 slash line from 2023 simply because his average exit velocity (87.9 mph) was the lowest of his career should be dismissed, as the seven-year veteran cut down on his swing — creating softer contact — with two strikes. In fact, Bellinger had the second-highest batting average (.279) in that situation, behind only Luis Arraez of the Miami Marlins, who won his second straight batting title in 2023.
While it’s no wonder Boras is referencing players who have signed for more than $300 million, there has been no indication he is seeking that much for this client. He is looking for a package well over $200 million, according to sources familiar with the situation, but it’s unclear where the ceiling for Bellinger’s services will land.
“Boras is sticking to the money that was mentioned at the start of the free agency market,” one executive said. “He will take it well into the winter. Not budging.”
Assuming Bellinger is amenable to playing in Toronto, the Blue Jays may have the edge over Chicago in several ways. They are already a contending team, having made the postseason each of the past two years. But they’re missing balance in their lineup in the same way the Yankees were before acquiring Soto. The Cubs are still in building mode, not necessarily ready to overextend themselves for one player.
“The Cubs aren’t a ‘pay a guy until he’s 40 at a maximum rate’ type of team,” one NL executive said. “The Blue Jays may not be either, but they’re a bit more desperate to finish their roster building. They may match his price.”
Additionally, the Jays recently signed a Boras client to a multiyear deal — pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu signed a four-year, $80 million contract — while the Cubs have stayed out of that market under owner Tom Ricketts. Boras and Ricketts don’t have the type of relationship where the former can just pick up the phone and get a deal done with the latter, according to sources familiar with the situation. That is a tool Boras has used in the past.
“He will absolutely chat with an owner directly and work that angle,” an executive said. “No doubt about that.”
Boras reiterated that point: “A lot of this has to do with ownership. It has to do with their commitment. It has to do with their vision of what they’re going to do to develop [through free agency].”
If Bellinger leaves for the Blue Jays, it could complete their lineup while leaving the same hole in the Cubs’. So it might take a change of heart from the Cubs — or Bellinger taking less money — for Chicago to avoid losing him.
As Boras has said, “The Cubs got a full Belly [last season]. They’re going to have to loosen their belts to keep Bellinger.”
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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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