Former MVP Cody Bellinger Remains The Perfect Fit For The Phillies

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in just few weeks, and one of the best free agents on the market remains unsigned. While no rumors have thus far connected the Phillies to former MVP Cody Bellinger, he remains one of the best options for the Phillies.

Here's a glance at a few of the biggest reasons:

Timeliness

The Phillies are built for the future...sort of. But their window to win a championship with their current stars as the centerpiece probably only has a few more years.

While the long term contracts to Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Aaron Nola will keep them here till the 2030s, and shorter term deals and younger players have almost every key player locked up for the next two to three years,

Don't fear the southpaw

A common argument against the Phillies signing Bellinger is that it would make their lineup too lefty-heavy. He'd be the fifth everyday leftie bat in the lineup after Schwarber, Harper, Stott, and Marsh. But Bellinger has very good, borderline elite splits against left-handers. On his career, he's slugged to a .782 OPS against them. And in 2023, he actually hit lefties better, with a monstrous .982 mark. That means Rob Thomson might not mind batting him lefty-lefty in front of Harper. Here's a hypothetical lineup:

1. Turner SS
2. Bellinger CF
3. Harper 1B
4. Castellanos RF
5. Schwarber DH
6. Realmuto C
7. Stott 2B
8. Bohm 3B
9. Marsh LF

Defense

Bellinger honed his versality with a Dodgers team that highly values it. He's spend the bulk of his career innings putting up stellar metrics in center, but he grades out strongly at left, right, and even first base as well. Should Harper get hurt or need a day off, it's great insurance to have Bellinger on hand to slide to the infield. But most importantly, when everyone's healthy, it would allow the team to deploy Johan Rojas in a superutility outfield role, coming in as a defensive replacement late in games for Castellanos, and even earning some starts against lefties over Marsh.

Price tag

Bellinger could command up to $200 or $250 million over eight to ten years. Very few teams are in a position to afford that. You could argue the Phillies can't afford that, but they're one of the few teams that's consistently broken the bank when they see the right match. Tie that with Bellinger's agent, Scott Boras, also representing Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Taijuan Walker, and others, and it certainly seems possible.

The Atlanta-Los Angeles Problem

The Phillies have proven two years in a row they are the superior team to the Atlanta Braves when it really counts. But the Braves dominant regular season run proves they're a huge threat, and nearly every projection system and analyst around the league believes they'll be baseball's best in 2024.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, have added Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernandez, and Manuel Margot to a team that won a hundred games last year. They slot right alongside the Braves atop everyone (and thing's) prognostications.

The Phillies are usually somewhere between 3rd and 6th on those lists, mixing and mingling with the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers.

They'll need to get past both Atlanta and LA to test their mettle against those American League clubs. Bellinger would make a third consecutive postseason miracle much more achievable, and even likely.