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Bellinger, 30, has had one of the strangest careers of the century. For seven seasons out of nine, he’s been a productive hitter from the left side with good power with a strong idea of the strike zone, playing plus defense at multiple positions, and showing baserunning savvy. In the middle of that, in 2021 and 2022, he hit .193/.256/.355 over 900 plate appearances, two seasons of replacement-level play that got him non-tendered by the Dodgers after the ’22 campaign. Since then, from 27 through 29, he’s been the player you would have projected him to be after his age-24 season. Simply bizarre, and most likely the result of an injury stack (shoulder, fibula, hamstring, ribs) that wrecked his mechanics for more than a year.
Like a lot of free-agent deals this winter, there’s not much to say. The Yankees get a three-win player for a three-win price, and they avoid retaining him too deep into his thirties. Bellinger will, as he did last year, give Aaron Boone some Team Pretzel options and help the Yankees’ lineup depth when Giancarlo Stanton, who hasn’t batted 500 times since 2021, is unavailable.
