Could Cody Bellinger be headed north of the border?
With the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes finally sorted out as the Japanese phenom is signing with the Dodgers on a 10-year deal worth $700 million, the rest of the free-agency market should soon be falling into place.
So it goes that baseball fans are wondering if there’s a message to decipher from Cody Bellinger’s fiancée, model Chase Carter, posting an Instagram story of the Toronto skyline Sunday.
The Blue Jays were a suitor for Ohtani — who could possibly forget the flight imbroglio where it was actually “Shark Tank” star entrepreneur Robert Herjavec on the private jet from Southern California to Toronto and not the baseball superstar, as had been reported — and would presumably be in the market for a slugger of Bellinger’s caliber.
The 2019 NL MVP, Bellinger had a bounce-back year with the Cubs this past season, hitting .307 with 26 home runs, 97 RBIs and a .881 OPS.
At 28 years old, he has a number of seasons in his physical prime ahead of him.
David Ross, who was Bellinger’s manager on the Cubs this past season (before being replaced by Craig Counsell) praised the outfielder’s intangibles in a recent interview with Michael Kay on ESPN New York.
“Cody, for me, metrically, it’s not going to jump off the page,” Ross said.
“He doesn’t hit the ball the hardest of anybody or have this super-disciplined approach, but his bat-to-ball skills are one of those things I haven’t seen in a long time for a player that produced what he did this year with power, gap-to-gap ability, stolen bases.
“Putting the ball in play with his skill set really stood out to me. His ability to have a productive at-bat when he wasn’t great early was something, and then it all came together. And this is a guy who wants to play every day. He just loves to play baseball, loves to compete.”
Bellinger and Carter, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, welcomed their baby daughter Caiden in 2021 and got engaged this past June.