Los Angeles Dodgers taking gamble with Cody Bellinger contract

So which Cody Bellinger will show up for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022? Is it the one who won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 2019 or the one who has scuffled mightily over the last two regular seasons?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are apparently counting on the Bellinger that they saw throughout 2019 as well as in the 2021 postseason being the one who walks into Camelback Ranch for spring training. That’s the best explanation there can be after the Dodgers inked Bellinger (according to sources) to a one-year, $17 million deal shortly before the Major League Baseball lockout kicked into effect on December 1.

Cody Bellinger has been a two-sided coin for the Los Angeles Dodgers in recent years, and that makes this contract an interesting decision for the franchise

Let’s take a quick look back at the two-sided coin that is Bellinger.

On one side, you have a player who, over the last two regular seasons spanning 151 games and 593 plate appearances, has slashed just .195/.278/.364, striking out 136 times (25.8 percent of the time) and posting a cumulative OPS+ of 72 while hitting 22 homers and driving in 66.

Looking at the other side, you have the 2019 National League MVP, slashing .305/.406/.629 with 47 homers and 115 RBI in 661 plate appearances, posting a 167 OPS+, and striking out 19.3 percent of the time during that impressive campaign.

Also on that same side, you have a player who, after a dreadful 2021 regular season where people were questioning if he should even be getting meaningful at-bats in September, slashed .412/.500/.588 in 20 plate appearances in the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves.

There were moments where Bellinger reverted back into one of the Dodgers’ top offensive weapons against the Braves, and this contract shows that Los Angeles is remembering those magic memories of October more than the thud heard during every other baseball month last season.

Granted, Bellinger’s 2021 was riddled by injuries, including leg injuries and a rib fracture, but can Bellinger regain his MVP form in 2022, or at least become a shadow of what he was during that season? The Dodgers are counting on it and are putting some money toward Bellinger that certainly could be spent in other areas, such as shoring up the rotation or back end of the bullpen.

Yes, the Dodgers had the choice of paying Bellinger or non-tendering him (since this was his third turn through arbitration), so losing him as a free agent could have created yet another hole the Dodgers would have to fill this offseason. And Bellinger has shown in previous years that he can make an impact in a Los Angeles lineup. However, with the money spent and the stench of two bad seasons wafting from him, the pressure will be on Bellinger to perform from the very start of 2022.

The Los Angeles Dodgers could have let Cody Bellinger go and saved some money, or they could have signed him and hoped he would rebound and morph back into his former self. Either way was a gamble, but the Dodgers seem to have chosen the more familiar path that is also the path of higher risk and reward.