Los Angeles Angels emerge as a threat for the Cubs in market for Cody Bellinger

The saga that is Cody Bellinger's free agency appears to show no sign of resolution nearing as Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that no team, including the Chicago Cubs, has submitted a formal offer for Bellinger's services next season.

While that almost certainly is noise that Scott Boras is trying to muster as a way to goat teams to meeting his current asking price, believed to be north of $200MM, for Bellinger, we are inching closer to the team where there is a team out there that might get antsy.

That team may be the Los Angeles Angels. Mike DiGiovanna asked the question in the Los Angeles Times of why the Angels haven't pursued top free agents after their failure to re-sign Shohei Ohtani and makes a case that Bellinger could be a free agent they may target before the start of the season.

"Bellinger could replace a chunk — but not all — of Ohtani’s power and give the Angels a Gold Glove-caliber defender in either center field, necessitating the long-anticipated move of Mike Trout to left, or at first base, where Bellinger could play if rookie Nolan Schanuel struggles in his first full season."

Los Angeles Times

It would be comical to think that the Angels would sign Bellinger with the hope of providing some of the power lost by Ohtani signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Part of the reason why Bellinger has last this long on the free-agent market is because of the fear that there will be a power regression in the coming seasons for the 2023 National League Comeback Player of the Year.

All signs continue to point to Bellinger returning to the Cubs. The market's evaluation of Bellinger has proven the Cubs' assessment to be correct. We are at the point to where Bellinger will need to come off his asking price and it would seem that a return to the Cubs would be the ideal landing spot given the comfort he had with the team last season.

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