Cody Bellinger stays put, lands multiyear deal with Cubs

One of the top free-agent hitters reached an agreement overnight, as center fielder Cody Bellinger agreed with the Cubs on a three-year, $80M deal, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Passan, the deal includes opt-outs following the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Passan adds that the deal is slightly frontloaded, with Bellinger making $30M in 2024 and 2025 with a $20M salary in 2026.

Bellinger returns to the Cubs after signing a one-year deal with the club last winter and delivering an excellent platform campaign. In 556 trips to the plate, the 28-year-old slashed .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs and 20 stolen bases while splitting time between center field and first base for Chicago. That performance earned Bellinger a Silver Slugger award and a top-10 finish in NL MVP voting and seemingly left him poised to cash in this winter with a major contract. MLBTR ranked Bellinger as the No. 2 free agent in this year’s class behind only two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, predicting a 12-year, $264M deal for the outfielder in our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list.

That prediction proved to land well over where Bellinger wound up signing. While Bellinger entered the winter with plenty of big market clubs seemingly in the running for his services including the Giants, Yankees, and Blue Jays, each pivoted in other directions throughout the month of December: San Francisco landed KBO star Jung Hoo Lee to patrol center, Juan Soto was shipped to the Bronx to fill the left-handed void in their outfield mix, and the Blue Jays changed course after missing out on Shohei Ohtani to instead focus on smaller deals for players such as Kevin Kiermaier and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. That left Bellinger with few clear suitors outside the incumbent Cubs, though his free agency continued into Spring Training as his camp held out for a long-term deal. At the same time, the Cubs and president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, remained steadfast in their patience. Ultimately, Chicago was rewarded for its patience, as the club will retain Bellinger’s services for at least the 2024 campaign on a relatively low-cost deal similar to the three-year, $105M deal fellow Boras Corporation client Carlos Correa signed with the Twins two offseasons ago.

Several factors beyond his relatively small number of suitors likely contributed to Bellinger opting for a short-term deal. Excellent as he was in 2023, the slugger struggled badly while contending with shoulder issues and a fractured fibula during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Though he managed to take the field for 900 plate appearances across the two seasons, he hit a paltry .193/.256/.355 during that time, a far cry from the career .273/.364/.567 slash line he entered the 2021 season with that earned him Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

While Bellinger’s strong and healthy 2023 campaign certainly helped to assuage the concerns brought on by his dismal campaigns in the prior two seasons, a look at his advanced metrics reveals some cause for concern that the 28-year-old’s 2023 campaign may not be entirely sustainable. While a career-low 15.6% strikeout rate supported Bellinger’s career-best batting average last season, it was also propped up by a .319 BABIP that eclipsed his career .277 mark entering the 2023 season by more than 40 points.

That leap in good batted ball fortune came despite unusually low contact quality peripherals. Per Statcast, Bellinger’s average exit velocity, barrel rate, and Hard-Hit percentage were well below average, landing in the 22nd, 27th, and 10th percentile among qualified major leaguers. Those peripheral numbers left Bellinger with a rough league-average xwOBA of just .330 last year, 40 points below his excellent .370 wOBA. Between his pronounced struggles in recent seasons and the concerning peripherals underlying his 2023 return to form, it’s not a complete shock that Bellinger would land a short-term, opt-out heavy deal that preserves flexibility rather than a lengthy deal that maximizes guarantee.

Such a contract could set Bellinger up for a much more significant payday in the future. As noted by MLBTR’s Steve Adams in his recent look at the possibility of a short-term deal for Bellinger, the slugger is unusually young for a free agent and, as such, may be uniquely suited for a short-term arrangement. If Bellinger can maintain a similar level of production to his 2023 rebound, he’ll be a near lock to opt out of the remaining two years and $50M on his deal and return to free agency, where he would be marketing his age-29 campaign and be unimpeded by the Qualifying Offer, which the Cubs extended to Bellinger this winter.

In the meantime, Bellinger will return to Chicago, where he dramatically improves the club’s lineup and odds of contention in a crowded NL Central. Bellinger’s 134 wRC+ and .525 slugging led all Cubs hitters with at least 100 trips to the plate last year, while he ranked fourth in on-base percentage. The slugger also provides a much-needed lefty bat to a lineup that complements righty hitters in the lineup, such as Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki, Christopher Morel, and Nico Hoerner. In addition to providing the club’s lineup with potentially impactful offense, Bellinger’s versatility offers the Cubs flexibility as they look to incorporate their young hitters into the big league lineup.

Infielder Michael Busch will likely enter the season as the club’s regular first baseman after the club acquired him from the Dodgers in a deal last month, leaving Bellinger to begin the season as the club’s everyday option in center field. With that being said, top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong lurks after making his big league debut last September and sports 80-grade defense in center field. The club’s reunion with Bellinger takes the pressure off Crow-Armstrong, who went hitless in 19 plate appearances during his cup of coffee last fall, to immediately produce at the big league level and allows the Cubs to continue his development at Triple-A to open the year. Should Crow-Armstrong prove himself ready to take on the everyday job in center before the end of the year, Bellinger could shift to an outfield corner, first base, or even DH, depending on the health and production of the rest of the lineup.

The reunion with Bellinger likely serves as a capstone for an offseason that saw Chicago land left-hander Shota Imanaga and veteran relief arm Hector Neris in free agency. Club chairman Tom Ricketts recently indicated that the club was unlikely to exceed the Competitive Balance Tax threshold this winter. RosterResource projects the club for a $234M payroll in 2024 for CBT purposes, less than $3M below the first $237M threshold. That means a reversal of the stance would be nearly mandatory for the club to make further additions this winter, barring a trade that clears salary elsewhere on the roster.