The Dodgers and Cody Bellinger agreed to a $ 16.1 million contract a year before today’s arbitration term, by MLB Insider Jon Heyman (via Twitter) Bellinger won $ 11.5 million last season, a record amount for a player in his first year of eligibility for refereeing. Bellinger is represented by Scott Boras. As a Super-Two player, Bellinger has two more years of eligibility for arbitration before his potential free agency after the 2023 season.
Bellinger’s record salary last season came after a National League MVP season, in which he produced a .305 / .406 / .629 and 7.1 bWAR cut line. While his Dodgers overcame the hurdle to win the World Series this season, Bellinger posted a deadly .239 / .333 / .455 line on the board during the regular season. Despite seeing a year-on-year drop from 162 wRC + to 114 wRC + this season, the Dodgers have seen fit to reward Bellinger with a considerable increase, regardless. Matt Swartz of MLBTR projected that Bellinger would have received an arbitration award between $ 11.5 million and $ 15.9 million. The model based only on the 2020 numbers was definitely very conservative, since it would receive some kind of increase, but it is still interesting to see the Dodgers agree with a number beyond even our highest projection.
While Bellinger’s offensive numbers may have dropped, he remained as central as ever to the Dodgers’ efforts. The 25-year-old led the entire baseball with eight above average eliminations while occupying the center of the field for the Dodgers, which the Dodgers certainly could include in their Bellinger assessment, even though the refereeing panels typically don’t weigh excessively defensive metrics. like OAA.