Dodgers News: Cody Bellinger's Future in LA Remains Very Much in Doubt

Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger might not be back in L.A. next year, one of several tough decisions the Los Angeles front office has ahead of them.

When Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger didn't start against right-handed Joe Musgrove on Saturday night, it felt like the end of an era. Bellinger was the NL MVP in 2019, and even at his worst, he's always been a guy manager Dave Roberts would pencil into the lineup against righties.

Sure, Bellinger is 2-for-17 in his career against Musgrove, and Musgrove has reverse splits (meaning he's tougher on lefties than on righties). But this is Bellinger we're talking about.

And it seems like we might spend a lot more time talking about Bellinger over the coming months, as the Dodgers are faced with a decision even harder than whether to play or bench him in NLDS Game 4. The choice now is whether to bring him back in 2023 or let him go. And as Bill Plunkett reports in the Orange County Register, it's not going to be an easy decision.

“I think a lot of that gets into the totality of what our payroll is and what our needs are,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said when asked about the possibility of making Bellinger a non-tendered free agent. “All things that we will focus in on a lot more after the season.”

This is definitively not a "yes, Bellinger will be back" statement. If the Dodgers tender him a contract, they're committing at least $13.6 million to him (he made $17 million this year, and the max pay cut in arbitration is 20 percent). They could non-tender him and try to bring him back at a lower price, or they could cut ties altogether and go with a different option in center.

It's not an easy decision, and it's one we'll all have our eye on for the next month or two.