A few more thoughts on the Cody Bellinger trade

Some of the first reactions I saw on Tuesday when Cody Bellinger’s trade to the Yankees was announced were along the lines of, “I hope the Ricketts are happy about more yachts,” or something like that.

In my opinion this is not sensible thinking. You can’t look at this deal in a vacuum. It’s a bit like all the talk about Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, before the Kyle Tucker trade, along the lines of, “Jed sucks, he doesn’t do anything, this will be a 77-win team in 2025.” .”

Oh, but then Tucker was acquired, and while a lot of people still aren’t fans of Hoyer, in the poll we did here about the deal, more than 80 percent voted “Yay!”

Acquiring Tucker clearly makes the Cubs a better team. It also made Bellinger redundant, as his primary position (after it was essentially decided that Seiya Suzuki would be the Cubs’ full-time DH) was right field, and that’s where Tucker plays. Bellinger also plays first base, but that’s where Michael Busch plays and no, Busch won’t play second or third base, he was only tried at those positions in the Dodgers organization because he was replaced by Freddie Freeman at first base was blocked. As Hoyer said during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday:

Michael Busch is not expected to be there in third place. The Cubs view Busch as a Gold Glove first baseman, Hoyer said, and he has made progress at the position.

“I thought after the first month of the season, first of all, he was fantastic,” Hoyer said, “and that’s definitely how we view him.”

Gold Glove may be a bit optimistic, but the eye test agrees with what Hoyer said there, and that also applies to Fangraphs, where Busch ranked seventh in both Outs Above Average and Fielding Run Value for 2024 .

So there was actually no room for Bellinger on the 2025 Cubs, and the Yankees gave the Cubs the opportunity to, yes, give up salary. “Salary dumping” – granted and required. Even here, Hoyer did well, as the Cubs are only paying the Yankees $5 million total, split between 2025 and 2026. Think of it like an acquisition, and that’s a really good deal, and the Cubs are also acquiring one potentially useful backup player/swingman in Cody Poteet.

Going back to the first paragraph of this post: Yes, it’s important that the Cubs actually use the $20 million-plus savings from the Bellinger contract on other good players who could improve the team and not just sit on it. The Cubs could still use another good starter, a backup, or even another slugger, although the latter likely won’t be a starter since the Cubs have essentially filled all the regular positions for 2025 with the acquisition of Tucker.

So yeah, Jed Hoyer. Go out and spend the money. Don’t sit on it. You may remember that Theo Epstein “dumped” Starlin Castro’s contract before the 2016 season – also to the Yankees! – and used the savings to sign Ben Zobrist. That worked out pretty well, I would say.

A few final comments. This transaction also took place on Tuesday:

(Click here for the Bluesky post above if you are reading this article on Apple News.)

That just means the Cubs now have to find another “break glass catcher in an emergency,” with Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly making up the everyday tandem. The list of catchers available for this isn’t long, but it includes Curt Casali, who was briefly in the Cubs organization last year, as well as two catchers who actually played for the Cubs: Tomas Nido and Christian Bethancourt. It wouldn’t hurt to bring Bethancourt back on a minor league deal if he was up for it.

Finally about Bellinger:

(Click here for the Bluesky post above if you are reading this article on Apple News.)

Here’s a little more on that, and yes, this could make for a few awkward moments in Yankee land.

I wish Bellinger all the best; He played well for the Cubs and by all accounts was a good teammate and clubhouse guy.

Now go out and get some good players with your savings, Jed.