Yeah. Because they’re gonna have the same bullshyt season they always have.
A super hot streak where they hit and score a ton.
Then 6-7 weeks where it’s Aaron Judge and 7 hitters who can’t do shyt.
Then they will play okay baseball to end the season.
Then they will get exposed in the playoffs against the best teams because they will score 3 runs on 4 hits and 14 strikeouts because that “high power/poor bat control” shyt is too high variance to be reliable in October.
We can be mad about what they may do as a pivot, but paying Bellinger the money he wants when he hasn't proven any semblance of consistency to justify the years he wants is irresponsible and when the next big name is available that we'll want, Cashman will point to that deal among others as to why he ain't gonna do shyt.
Once he opted out, it was over. At best he's worth the deal he opted out of. The only reason why they entertained it for as long as they did is because unlike Soto, Judge was lobbying to keep his new buddy. Every scenario you described will happen regardless of whether Cody stays or not.