Dodgers break lockout silence with surprise Cody Bellinger deal

Just two days before Christmas, the Los Angeles Dodgers gave us the greatest gift of all: unreported MLB transaction news!

Not a minor-league signing. Not a coaching staff adjustment. Genuine, honest-to-goodness baseball news somehow completed prior to the MLB lockout before getting lost in the shuffle.

You know, like the Astros’ Justin Verlander deal, except everything was done legally.

During another nondescript day of twiddling thumbs and using our voodoo dolls to try to get the MLBPA and ownership to throw their cares aside and meet, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan emerged from his cave and delivered us an update on Cody Bellinger’s 2022 salary that seems to have surprised the man himself.

Turns out, before the two sides parted ways, the Dodgers and Bellinger agreed on a one-year, $17 million deal to avoid arbitration in 2022. That’s a $900,000 raise on Bellinger’s 2021 salary, despite the type of production that nearly left him without a roster spot entering next season.

Quite a valuable postseason run, huh?

Dodgers OF Cody Bellinger secures one-year deal to avoid arbitration.

Add another commitment to LA’s 2022 payroll that some of you salary hawks were probably writing off — at least, you were when October started.

Some players took steps back in 2021, but Bellinger hopped in a jet, took off from LAX, and landed several area codes behind where he started. During the season, he was worth -1.5 WAR as he shook off ankle issues stemming from an accident on the base paths as well as several other nicks and cuts (a rib fracture, most prominently).

A 45 OPS+ with a mere 10 homers during the regular season, though, somehow translated to clutchness in the postseason yet again. Bellinger smacked .267 in the NLDS against San Francisco, including a RBI single that broke the tie in the ninth inning of Game 5. That smash sent the Dodgers onward, allowing Bellinger to again tie up the Braves by tomahawking a high fastball out to right for a three-run homer in Game 3; he batted .412 for the series.

That swing might’ve been the first time all year Belli looked right, and it took a superhuman effort to power the pitch out. Though the series ended up a wash, that swing gave plenty of fans hope of a bounce back season to come, and LA’s bet on such a thing occurring will now officially cost $17 million.

Perhaps most importantly … Passan was just as stunned as we were that he got to break actual news.

Merry Christmas to all, and we hope that each and every one of you has a chance to redeem an entirely rough year with one beautiful month towards the end, just as Bellinger did.

Once the initial shock of a deal occurring in late-December passes, we hope you’ll all evaluate $17 million figure with a keener eye. We’re not ready to question it yet, but we might be soon, especially if no sweeping roster changes are made.

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