Cubs Letting Cody Bellinger Walk in Free Agency?

Jed Hoyer had his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday and the biggest storyline to come from it was not surprisingly Cody Bellinger’s future with the Chicago Cubs. There were a few different quotes that were taken and spun either positively or negatively. I don’t know, maybe I’ve become immune to Hoyer’s media sessions and don’t really get riled up about what he says, but I’m just not ready to panic just yet about the Cubs letting Bellinger walk in free agency.

So, these were the two major quotes about Bellinger, who will decline his option for 2024, then decline a qualifying offer so he can test free agency this offseason.

We sat down with him on Sunday and had a long conversation. We’ve had really good dialogue throughout the whole year. He loves Wrigley Field and he loves the fans. I think his experience was fantastic and our experience with him was fantastic. We’d love to bring him back. We’ll have a lot of conversations with him. Obviously it’s a process and that process does not start now. It’s going to play out for a while.”

And here’s the other one that was circling around Cubs fans circles.

“Yes, I do think the contributions he made will have to be replaced,” Hoyer said. “We’d love to bring him back. In a world where that’s somewhat uncertain, we do have to figure out a way to replace that offensively.”

Before I go on with my thoughts, listen for yourself. Here’s Hoyer talking about Bellinger. Same quotes that I added, but you get to hear it and make up your own mind I guess. (16:12)

The Cubs may not ultimately re-sign Bellinger, but listening back to Hoyer’s press conference, I didn’t hear anything that made me panic about that scenario either.

It seems like some fans are freaking out because Hoyer was talking in the past tense about Bellinger’s time with the Cubs and then he directly mentioned how right now it is uncertain that Bellinger would return in 2024. But, I mean, it is uncertain? I just think back to the previous core and how Hoyer talked about those players and the way he’s talked about Bellinger. To me, it was pretty clear that once the 2021 season started, outside of overachieving, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez were not going to be with the Cubs after that year.

With Bellinger, I’m not getting that sense from Hoyer. But again, that’s not to say the Cubs re-signing Bellinger is a lay up either. We all know that Bellinger’s agent is Scott Boras and in most cases he’s going to wait out the market to get the best deal for his client. I expect that to be the case for Bellinger this upcoming offseason, after Bellinger redeemed himself with the Cubs and re-established himself as one of the better players in the league.

In a weak free agent class for position players, Bellinger will be one of the most sought-after players this winter.

If the Cubs don’t re-sign Bellinger, yeah I’ll be upset, Cubs fans should be upset. However, let’s not act like the Cubs are simply going to sit on their hands and not act to get better heading into 2024. The Cubs failed to make the playoffs in 2023 and that was with Bellinger. Hoyer obviously knows the team needs to add more pieces and that means getting someone on top of either retaining Bellinger or acquiring another player that can produce similarly to him.

That’s why the Cubs are going to be in trade talks with the New York Mets for Pete Alonso. The Cubs are going to kick the tires on a Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres and who knows, maybe a few other names are suddenly on the trade block that the Cubs will get involved with.

It’s not really a choice this offseason. The Cubs have to get better. The Cubs need to get better players.