{"id":203065,"date":"2025-10-10T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/203065\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:27:08","slug":"cody-bellinger-reportedly-plans-to-opt-out-of-yankees-contract-enter-mlb-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/203065\/","title":{"rendered":"Cody Bellinger Reportedly Plans to Opt Out of Yankees Contract, Enter MLB Free Agency\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Outfielder Cody Bellinger intends to decline his <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/21735\/cody-bellinger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">$25 million player option<\/a> for the 2026 season, making him a free agent. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">ESPN&#8217;s <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/46552534\/cody-bellinger-opts-contract-set-become-free-agent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Jorge Castillo<\/a> reported Bellinger intends to opt out of his deal with the New York Yankees and test the open market. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">The Yankees acquired Bellinger from the Chicago Cubs last December for right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet. He enjoyed a productive season in New York, hitting .272\/.334\/.480 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI while scoring 89 runs. Bellinger was excellent in the field as well with 11 total runs saved, per <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.fieldingbible.com\/DRSLeaderboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Fielding Bible<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Bellinger arrived in the majors in 2017 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he provided an immediate positive impact, hitting 39 home runs and posting a .933 OPS while winning NL Rookie of the Year honors, making the All-Star Game and even finishing ninth in the NL MVP race. He helped L.A. win the NL pennant as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Bellinger&#8217;s best season was 2019, when he won NL MVP honors after hitting .305 (1.035 OPS) with 47 home runs and 115 RBI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Bellinger then endured a three-year slump, in part because of numerous injuries suffered during the <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/cody-bellinger-on-rib-injury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">2021 season<\/a>, when he hit just .165 over 95 games. From 2020-2022, Bellinger hit just .203 (.648 OPS).<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">After the 2022 season, Bellinger left the Dodgers for the Cubs in free agency on a one-year, $17.5 million <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/21735\/cody-bellinger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">deal<\/a>. He enjoyed a great bounce-back campaign in 2023, hitting .307 (.881 OPS) with 26 home runs and 97 RBI in 130 games. Bellinger finished 10th in the NL MVP race and earned his second career Silver Slugger award.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">He re-signed with Chicago on a three-year, $80 million deal after the season. Following the 2024 campaign, the Cubs <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/cody-bellinger-cody-poteet-cubs-yankees-trade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">went in a different direction<\/a>, adding outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, leaving Chicago with extra players at the position. And so Bellinger went to the Bronx, a place his father, Clay Bellinger, called home from 1999-2001 as a utility man for the Yanks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Bellinger enjoyed a great 2025 season, but this is a situation where the 30-year-old should cash in on a fantastic year and look for a lucrative, long-term deal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outfielder Cody Bellinger intends to decline his $25 million player option for the 2026 season, making him a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-203065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}