(Audacy) With the addition of KBO star Jung Hoo Lee, the San Francisco Giants’ outfield is set, right? Maybe not.
The Giants made their first splash of the offseason by reaching a six-year, $113-million deal with the 25-year-old Lee on Tuesday. So what's that mean for the Giants' pursuit of outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger?
The Giants could still make a push for the 28-year-old Bellinger, Audacy MLB insider Jon Heyman said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Wednesday morning. Beyond the Giants, the Cubs, Blue Jays and Mariners are other teams to keep an eye on for Bellinger.
“I wouldn’t eliminate the Giants, they’ve got money to burn, right?” Heyman said. “They were in there big on (Shohei) Ohtani, they’ve been in there big on a million people – (Bryce) Harper, (Giancarlo) Stanton, (Aaron) Judge – they've tried hard, and $113 million (for Lee) isn’t going to be much for them. Their financial situation was outstanding, it’s about to be even better with the A’s presumably about to move to Las Vegas.
“The Giants have money, and they can keep going. It does feel like they have enough outfielders, but they don’t have a good enough team to beat the Dodgers — I think they know that. And they don’t sell out and they want to get some stars, they’ve been all about getting stars, obviously they didn’t get the biggest star, they tried hard. I’m not ruling them out on Bellinger.
“Toronto is one of the teams, I wouldn’t rule out Seattle. There probably are mystery teams, Cody Bellinger had a pretty good year — .306 batting average, .881 OPS. So, I’m not going to assume they’re out, but I do think the Cubs should have a good chance. I think he loved it there and I think he’d like to go back.”
Bellinger hit .307 with 26 homers, 97 RBIs and an .881 OPS in 130 games for the Cubs this past season, when he won National League Comeback Player of the Year honors.