The Los Angeles Dodgers slipped one last signing in before the owners' lockout. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel, Los Angeles avoided arbitration with Cody Bellinger before the lockout, signing him to a one-year contract worth $17 million. The deal is official but was not announced because teams are not referring to 40-man roster players by name during the work stoppage.
Arbitration salaries are based on the player's entire career to date, so even though Bellinger had a disastrous 2021 season, he received a $900,000 raise. No player has ever had his salary cut through arbitration and that wasn't about to happen with Bellinger, a former MVP. He will be eligible for arbitration again in 2023 before becoming a free agent during the 2023-24 offseason.
Bellinger, 26, authored a miserable .165/.240/.302 (45 OPS+) batting line with 10 home runs in 350 plate appearances this past season. He was so bad offensively that, even with elite center fielder defense, he was a minus-1.5 WAR player. Bellinger's struggles were rooted in the sudden inability to hit fastballs. His 2021 numbers against heaters:
Batting average
.147
.264
Slugging percentage
.325
.446
Swing and miss rate
27.5 percent
20.7 percent
Bellinger had shoulder surgery last offseason (he hurt himself celebrating a home run) and then suffered a hairline fracture in his leg during a collision at first base one week into the regular season. The Dodgers brought him along slowly in spring training following the shoulder surgery, then he broke his leg. Bellinger never really had a chance to get up to speed after that.
The Dodgers hope a proper offseason and good health will get Bellinger back to being productive, and with Corey Seager having left as a free agent and Max Muncy recovering slowly from his elbow injury, Los Angeles needs Bellinger to rebound. Should Muncy start the year on the injured list, Bellinger and Gavin Lux are the club's only lefty bats of note.
Here, assuming Muncy is healthy, is what the club's Opening Day lineup could look like:
RF Mookie BettsSS Trea Turner3B Justin Turner1B Max MuncyC Will SmithLF AJ PollockCF Cody Bellinger2B Chris TaylorPitcher's spotThe new collective bargaining agreement is expected to make the universal DH permanent, at which point the Dodgers could insert Lux into the everyday lineup. Taylor's flexibility allows Los Angeles to rotate players through the DH spot to get them off their feet for a day. Someone can DH and Taylor can play that player's position that day. Easy peasy.
Clearly though, that lineup becomes much less imposing without Muncy, and without a productive Bellinger as well. The Dodgers would have close to zero lefty power without Muncy and with a struggling Bellinger. Bellinger is still so young and is so talented that it would be foolish to write him off. That said, he has a lot to prove in 2022. It will be a crucial, potentially career-defining season for the former Rookie of the Year.
