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Dodgers: 3 Cody Bellinger trades that make sense if LAD bails

By Adam Weinrib |
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 14: Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his pop fly out to end the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on September 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 14: Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his pop fly out to end the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on September 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
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Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

At this juncture, Cody Bellinger is not somebody who should be playing every day for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

An absurd thought probably half-mumbled by the most pessimistic fan midway through 2020 has now become our reality. Earnestly depressing.

Interrupted by injury — and delayed by his recovery from a dislocated shoulder suffered in the 2020 postseason, most likely — Bellinger has posted an unbelievable .159/.237/.295 triple slash through Tuesday’s action, good for a 44 OPS+.

Plenty of fans have fallen out of love with modern, swing-and-miss baseball, but even the most ardently old-fashioned among us would have felt foolish predicting that type of production from the runaway 2019 NL MVP just two years later.

So, what happens now? Los Angeles’ budget is overflowing, and Max Scherzer, Corey Seager, Chris Taylor and Kenley Jansen still must be dealt with this offseason. Suddenly, a Bellinger extension — with two years of arbitration left — doesn’t feel like a possibility anymore, let alone a necessity.

In fact, it’s far more likely Trea Turner gets the long-term bag. Imagine saying that to yourself in mid-May?

If the Dodgers really do decide the 2021-22 offseason is the best time to sell low on Bellinger (we think it’s far more likely he stays through ’22, but still), these three destinations could make the most sense. Some of them might even provide us a double reclamation project swap.

These 3 Cody Bellinger trades could make sense for the Dodgers.

3. Cody Bellinger to the Mets

Though the Dodgers would surely prefer to dump the final two years of Bellinger’s control into the American League instead, Steve Cohen’s New York Mets certainly have a similar number of reclamation projects to exchange, as well as a gaping hole in right field created by the likely departure of Michael Conforto.

Second baseman Jeff McNeil’s been playing a good deal of left lately while Javier Baéz is in town, and the Puerto Rican slugger feels like a solid culture fit for the Mets moving forward, too (a stunning phrase to drop just a few weeks after he flashed the thumbs down to the entire fan base). Let’s say the Mets extend Francisco Lindor’s buddy and get a full-strength Brandon Nimmo back to man center.

That would leave both Dominic Smith and JD Davis out of a job — Dodgers fans, take your pick! Both would require the attachment of a mid-range prospect, too (sorry, the star power of Bellinger’s name is simply too strong to entertain a one-for-one swap), but both hitters have been relatively competent of late.

Smith, still just 26, hit .316 with a .993 OPS in 2020, finishing 13th in the MVP voting before losing his starting job (as the NL DH disappeared) this year. Now, he’s slogging through an uncharacteristic 85 OPS+ campaign without a leg to stand on. Presuming baseball emerges from their offseason discussions with a universal DH reinstalled, his bat could be a coup if the Dodgers could make him comfortable.

Davis? His defense is also quite questionable, but he’s got a .298 average, 1.1 WAR, and 137 OPS+ in just 168 at-bats this season. The swing-and-miss is there, but typically, so is the pop. Just Dingers is controlled through 2024, one year longer than Bellinger.

Add on, say, No. 14 prospect RHP Junior Santos. Do we have a deal?

Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

2. Cody Bellinger to the Cleveland TBDs

Since the dawn of time, Cleveland has needed outfield help, and there may be no more pedigreed reclamation project on the market at any time during the next … decade?

Right now, the team from The Land is floating Myles Straw, Oscar Mercado, Bradley Zimmer and Harold Ramirez around the outfield while Josh Naylor — also kind of, maybe, sort of not an outfielder — recovers from a nasty injury on the 60-Day IL. Bellinger may be far from a sure thing, but he’d also immediately waltz into that outfield with cache — and out of the National League, while he’s at it.

For this trade to work, Cleveland would probably have to craft a prospect-based package; there aren’t many ‘tweeners on this roster, except perhaps Amed Rosario and Bobby Bradley, neither of whom will be assuredly available or of interest to Andrew Friedman. What about 2020 second-rounder Logan Allen, a lefty starter who isn’t the Logan Allen currently scuffling in the majors to the tune of a 7.11 ERA?

Ooh, you know what? That would be fun. Logan Allen the prospect (No. 10 on MLB Pipeline’s top 30) and Logan Allen, the 24-year-old MLBer for Bellinger.

More realistically, though, we’d project the minor-league Allen and speedy 2B/OF Richard Palacios (No. 14), who could help next year in LA.

Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees and Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees and Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) /

1. Cody Bellinger to the Yankees

Forget prospects. Don’t need ’em, don’t want ’em. You clicked on this article to get crazy, so let’s talk crazy.

The New York Yankees, as we all knew they would be, are heavily relying on Brett Gardner to soak up innings this season after Aaron Hicks went down early in the season. They banked on Anthony Rizzo and Luke Voit, meaning Giancarlo Stanton has made a few outfield appearances, but even so, their depth chart is still thin, and Hicks isn’t walking through that door next year with any expectations attached to his name.

At the same time, the “infield so packed they can’t find room for Trevor Story” has gotten leaky. Gleyber Torres has been a barely-above-replacement powerless infielder this year, Voit’s somehow found himself in the dog house despite dominating for a stretch in mid-August once he was reinstalled as the starter, and Gio Urshela — also scuffling — might find himself the odd man out once Torres is moved off shortstop.

Could Corey Seager replace him in the Yankees’ infield? Could Bellinger join him once again?! In exchange for … either Torres, or Urshela and a prospect?

If Torres is the move, Dodgers fans must recall that he was held in Bellinger-like esteem back in 2019, too, socking 38 homers at the age of 22. Acuña Jr. Soto. Torres. These were, at one point, the members of the next wave. Though he’s fallen astoundingly far since then, posting an 86 OPS+ with poor defense this season, he’s still a proven playoff performer who may benefit from being taken off shortstop entirely.

If the Dodgers would prefer a shorter-term commitment to Urshela, though, who also came alive in the Bronx in 2019 to the tune of a 133 OPS+ (backed up by a 137 mark in 2020), they could have him through 2023 and would be able to deploy his sometimes-spectacular glove at both third and short (and, we guess, second). Add in a mid-range Yanks prospect like righty Yoendrys Gomez, and that could be the match.

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