The Houston Astros might be poised to make the most awkward trade of the 2023 deadline.
The Astros have trade interest in Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. For now, the interest appears to be preliminary, but the Astros have at least checked in with the Cubs about Bellinger’s availability.
From a baseball standpoint, Bellinger is an excellent fit for what the Astros need. Houston has been open about their interest in acquiring a left-handed hitter, and Bellinger ticks that box. He is also having a fine season in Chicago, hitting .305 with 12 home runs in 60 games.
There is, however, one notable factor.
Bellinger was a standout player on the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers team that lost to the Astros in the World Series. That Astros team was later found to have been stealing signs illegally for much of the season, and Bellinger was hugely critical of the Astros in the aftermath of those revelations. He even suggested that he believed theories claiming that the Astros, particularly Jose Altuve, found other ways to cheat all the way through the 2019 campaign.
While many players from the 2017 and 2019 teams have moved on from Houston, Altuve is among those that have not, so Bellinger would have to share the clubhouse with some players he has been very critical of publicly. He cannot actually do anything to prevent himself from being traded to Houston, though the Astros will probably want to make sure a deal like this would not be a problem for the team or the player. If they did make the deal, there would probably be some awkwardness initially no matter what is said publicly.
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