3 moves the SF Giants must make immediately after losing out on Shohei Ohtani

Sign Cody Bellinger

Speaking of bats, this free agent market sucks when it comes to position players. Juan Soto was an exciting option on the trade market, but getting the Padres to trade him in the division never seemed likely and he ended up getting moved to the Yankees. However, one bat that sticks out on the free agent market is one that used to terrorize the Giants on the regular and that is Cody Bellinger.

Bellinger's career has been a weird one. In a period of three years with the Dodgers, he won National League Rookie of the Year and NL MVP and appeared to be primed to become one of the best players in all of baseball. Then, he seemingly forgot how to hit altogether for three years while failing to eclipse 20 home runs in any of those three seasons. However, he bounced back in a big way after joining the Cubs for the 2023 season where he slashed .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs and 20 stolen bases.

There are some concerning peripherals with Bellinger still as he still isn't hitting the ball hard consistently, but his track record there is such that everyone knows he has it in him. It was also encouraging to see him bring his strikeout rate down which was certainly a problem earlier in his career. That said, the early rumors of Bellinger asking for north of $250 million this offseason is a bit optimistic.

Most of the sane contract estimates for Bellinger's next deal instead fall more in the six year, $150 million range. The Cubs would love to bring him back with the Blue Jays and Mariners also being in the fray. San Francisco needs offense badly and while Bellinger is far from a perfect option, they still need to push to sign him. The next best position player on the market is Matt Chapman who is inconsistent at best at the plate (although he is a stellar defender) and the offensive options drop off A LOT after that.