5 free agents Perry Minasian must convince Arte Moreno to avoid this offseason

3) Cody Bellinger

Cody Bellinger proved me wrong with an unbelievable bounceback year with the Cubs. After being non-tendered by the Dodgers last offseason I was adament about not wanting the Angels to take a chance on him and he made me look absolutely foolish. Credit to him.

Bellinger slashed .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs and 97 RBI in 130 games this past season for the Cubs. He tacked on 20 stolen bases and, of course, elite defense anywhere they put him. He showed flashes of the MVP he was back with the Dodgers.

Bellinger doing this in his free agency year means he's set to make a whole lot of money when he signs his next contract. He deserves it after a year like this, but do the Angels really want to be the team giving him a nine-figure deal when he can easily just revert back to the player he was at the end of his Dodgers career?

In the three seasons following his MVP win in 2019, Bellinger slashed .203/.272/.376 averaging 14 home runs and 45 RBI per season while earning mostly regular playing time. Some of the numbers are skewed a bit because of the short season, but make no mistake about it. He was awful.

You know you're going to get elite defense from Bellinger no matter what, but the Angels dolling out long-term big money to a player who was rather worthless for three years before randomly breaking out is a risk I really don't need to see them taking. Especially when they've got outfielders and a first baseman in the fold already.