I won’t duplicate too much of what I ꧅just wrote about Cody Bellinger and his opt-ou🧔t decision, because I stand by it al♉l, but I do want to share a report on that ꦜfront.
– very matter-of-factly – that Bellinger is going to stay with the Cubs after the season:
“Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger, who’s in the first year of a three-year, $80 million contract, is fully expected to remain with the Cubs instead of opting out of his contract. He’ll be paid $27.5 million next year.”
He wrote it, he does still have some connections, and thus I share it. I think he’s absolutely wrong that a decision is already a done deal, though. There’s no way a firm and fast decision has been made just yet, and if anything, I expect that the scales are currently tipped slightly in the other direction.
“So, on the ultimate question of the opt-out, I would just note that Cody Bellinger has, overall, been pretty good offensively this year as a 29-year-old quality defensive outfielder, who can also play quality defense at first base, and who runs the bases well. Heck, there have been only seven center fielders this season who’ve posted a better wRC+ than Bellinger. It’s easy to lose sight of how good he’s still been, relatively speaking.
A guy with that profile, at that age, and without a Qualifying Offer attached, *USUALLY* can count on getting more than two years and $50 million in free agency. Because of the injury issues and the two massively down years, as well as some regression from 2023 to 2024, I have to leave it at “usually.” It’s possible the remaining two years on his deal with the Cubs (plus an opt out) is better than he and Boras expect to find on the market.”
Let’s just see how these last two weeks shake out. If Bellinger stays hot, I think it’ll become even more likely that he opts out.
