Hot Stove League, Black Friday Edition

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Rumor has it that there are at least four teams interested in the non-tendered Cody Bellinger.

MLB insider Jon Heyman joined Chicago’s 670 The Score radio station to talk MLB rumors. He said there’s at least four teams that he’s heard connected with the Dodgers’ centerfielder.

“I have heard Bellinger connected with the Cubs. Bellinger certainly would fit the White Sox,” Heyman said. “I’ve heard him with Astros, Jays, Cubs, I’m sure the Yankees, as well, would be interested in Bellinger.”

Heyman said that on a sports radio show. In a column at the New York Post he upgraded the number of interested teams to eleven!

From the same source, the Dodgers are expressing interest in Carlos Rodón, who spent last year with the Giants and posted a 14-8 record with an ERA 2.88 and a WHIP of 1.03.

44 thoughts on “Hot Stove League, Black Friday Edition”

  3. What about Jose Iglesias at SS? Could probably be had for 2 years/$12-14M. Maybe add a team option for a 3rd year at $12M with a $2M buyout.

    • Hmm. Last season slash line: .292 .328 .380 Career .279 .319 .382

      He’s no Trea Turner (no steals to speak of), but he’s serviceable. But is he better than Lux would be at shortstop?

      • Probably better defense than Lux. Doesn’t strike out a ton. Lux has a lot more power. Lux probably has a higher offensive upside. I could live with either.

  5. MLB Trade Rumors

    The Cubs released Heyward earlier this offseason. He’d been slated to head into the 2023 campaign in the final season of his eight-year, $184MM deal signed prior to the 2016 campaign. Chicago remains on the hook for the bulk of Heyward’s $22MM salary in 2023, and the Dodgers will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on their Major League roster or injured list. That sum would be subtracted from the $22MM owed by the Cubs.

    Heyward, still just 33, spent seven seasons with the Cubs but struggled to live up to the expectations of that contract. After hitting .293/.359/.439 with all-world defense in his lone season as a Cardinal prior to reaching the open market, Heyward hit just .230/.306/.325 in the first season of his eight-year deal.

    Overall, Heyward’s final batting line as a member of the Cubs clocked in at just .245/.323/.377.

  6. Dodgers sign Jason Heyward to minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. No risk. Worth a shot.

    • Good for Kenley, but the Sawx seem unlikely contenders next year. I wish the Dodgers had brought him back last season.

      • Yep. Would have been better than Kimbrel. And we would have still had Pollock. Possibly avoiding the Gallo horror show.

  9. What will it say about our hitting coaches and approach if Cubs can fix Belli? I can’t believe they gave him $17.5M.

  21. Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic:

    Rather than immediately signal they would run it back, the Dodgers have shed nearly $100 million in payroll. They appear, as currently constructed, in line to shave off the highest chunk of their year-over-year figure as any team in baseball. Among those now hitting free agency are the club’s longest-tenured position player, Justin Turner, its most recent MVP winner in Cody Bellinger as well as some large contracts for David Price and Craig Kimbrel that were used to help manufacture this kind of payroll shift this winter.

    In explaining this sudden drop in payroll this month, Friedman turned back to a familiar phrase.

    “Typically, we like to have as much optionality as possible,” Friedman said.

    [snip]

    Asked after the season if payroll would decrease, Friedman pointed to the crop of talented young players he felt were at least close to breaking through to the big-league level, which by its very nature would lower the club’s overall spending. Club president Stan Kasten echoed such comments in an interview with the Los Angeles Times earlier this winter. There’s a reason Ken Rosenthal hinted at this move in The Athletic earlier this month, even before the Dodgers non-tendered Bellinger rather than pay him the approximately $18 million he was due in his final year of arbitration.

    Those comments about the young players have some merit; the group, which includes the likes of right-handers Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone as well as infielder Miguel Vargas and outfielder James Outman, graded out as Keith Law’s top farm system in his rankings for The Athletic ahead of last season. Turning those players into quality big leaguers is what keeps this train rolling. If some of them pop into another Corey Seager or Walker Buehler or Julio Urías or Will Smith, that, as Friedman told The Athletic last spring, keeps the Dodgers from being the latest high-spending club that has “fallen off a cliff.”

    They give the Dodgers, to borrow their favorite word, optionality.

  23. Rodon would be a nice addition, but I see them making a play for either deGrom or Verlander that would probably block a Rodon signing.

    • Rodón has an injury-prone history. The Gnats got the best of him, but there’s no guarantee that’ll last. Verlander’s also a risk (and a Trashtro, or Basurasterisco si prefieres).

      • Hard to think of a major league pitcher that doesn’t have a history of injury and all three of these options have that. He does have relative youth going for him, but that means he is able to demand years.