Cubs Desperately Trying to Trade Former Dodgers MVP Cody Bellinger: Report.
The Chicago Cubs are reportedly trying to trade former Los Angeles Dodgers star Cody Bellinger, but they are having trouble finding a trade partner.
Bellinger signed with the Cubs back in Dec. 2022 on a one-year deal with a player option for the 2024 season. He put in a resurgent year in 2023, hitting a career-high .307 with 26 home runs and 97 RBIs. He was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year following the season, and the Cubs re-signed him to a three-year, $80 million deal that February.
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That contract is widely seen around MLB as the reason the Cubs are struggling to get another team interested in acquiring Bellinger. For the Cubs to trade Bellinger, they will likely have to take on some of the money.
“Come on,” one MLB general manager said to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “who’s going to touch that contract? The risk is just too great for the production.”
Bellinger is now two seasons into his tenure with the Cubs after previously spending his entire career with the Dodgers. The Dodgers drafted Bellinger in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB Draft, and he debuted nearly four years later in 2017.
During his rookie season, Bellinger hit 39 home runs with 97 RBIs, breaking the National League rookie home run record at the time. He became the first Dodgers rookie to hit for the cycle, and unanimously was named the NL Rookie of the Year award after the season.
Two years later, Bellinger recorded the best season of his career when he slashed .305/.406/.629 with a career-high 47 home runs and 115 RBIs. Bellinger was named to the MLB All-Star Game for the second time, and was awarded the NL MVP after the season along with becoming a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner. Bellinger helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 2020, but endured injuries and regressed over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, leading to the Dodgers non-tendering him after the 2022 season.
