After not engaging in Juan Soto talks, the Cubs should look at Cody Bellinger’s trade market shape

DALLAS — The New York Mets lured Juan Soto to Queens by giving him a 15-year, $765 million contract, the richest contract in professional sports history. The Mets outperformed some of baseball’s biggest franchises, which included the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox. Conspicuously absent from the drawing were the Chicago Cubs, who knew in the offseason that they wouldn’t even enter the process for one of the most influential offensive talents in the game.

It’s the best-kept secret in baseball that the Cubs won’t be shopping at the top of the market this winter, but on Monday of the winter meetings in his suite at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, team president Jed Hoyer acknowledged the lack of interest to a group of local media members Teams announced publicly for the first time.

“There is nothing stopping us from committing to these players,” Hoyer said. “I think organizationally we decided not to pursue this further. But that doesn’t mean we won’t do that in the future. But we didn’t do that.”

Hoyer knows he needs impactful offensive talent and admitted they require “significant production from individual players.” But he also felt it was less about adding stars and more about a player having a season with more than five wins. In his view, that doesn’t necessarily have to come from a player who arrives at the top of the market via free agency.

According to Hoyer, deciding against Soto was a “long and thoughtful” process. But in the end, they decided to improve their team in other ways.

One avenue the Cubs are exploring is trading Cody Bellinger. This move alone doesn’t make them better, but it does provide both roster and financial flexibility to find unique ways to improve the roster. Signing Soto could break the logjam of activity heading into the winter.

The bidding war for Juan Soto is over after he agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets. (Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)

“I think there’s more talk,” Hoyer said, speaking generally about the implications of signing Soto. “(There were) five teams actively focused on one thing. I think that’s what makes it free. A lot of discussion about the treaty, a lot of discussion about how things will change as a result. So that’s what got things going. Which is not unexpected.”

While the New York Yankees, who missed out on Soto, are seen as a logical landing spot, the market for Bellinger is still developing. According to a team source, they wouldn’t be surprised if Bellinger was traded this week, but Hoyer was hesitant to suggest the Cubs would make any major moves in the next few days.

“You have summarized these things to the point where I doubt it,” Hoyer said. “Do I think we can get to a point where we do a lot of groundwork and it leads to something? Absolutely. I feel like it usually takes longer to get there. We are working hard on things and had a lot of discussions in advance over the weekend. The Soto thing caused even more chatter.”

Hoyer didn’t rule out a flurry of activity after Soto’s signing.

“It could be,” he said. “(Monday) was a busy morning, just as expected.”

Bellinger opted into his $27.5 million 2025 deal (which includes either a $5 million buyout for 2026 or a $25 million player option for 2026), which was a mild surprise for the Cubs. Bellinger had a solid, if unspectacular, season after a strong rebound in 2023. His 109 wRC+ was a step down from the 136 he posted in his first season with the Cubs, but he was significantly hurt by a dramatic Wrigley Field pitcher in 2024. On the road, Bellinger posted a 117 wRC+, but a 99 wRC+ at Wrigley Field. In 2023, Bellinger posted a 143 wRC+ at home.

The Cubs aren’t sure what kind of return they can get for Bellinger. But they could market him to any team looking for outfield or first base support, and his stifled offense at Wrigley Field could be sold as a blip rather than a regression to his poor period of performance before arriving with the Cubs.

There has been so much talk at the winter meetings that a Bellinger trade seems likely, with some believing it is inevitable. How the Cubs proceed after that is unknown, but the consensus is that the path to improving the offense doesn’t come through free agency.

“I think it’s safe to say that the most likely thing for something to happen is through trade,” Hoyer said of the offensive group change.

Hoyer was clear that their priority was to continue to expand the rotation, improve the bullpen and add an addition at catcher – as of Monday night, they were close to a deal for veteran Carson Kelly. But keeping the same group on offense seems like a risk. So the question soon will be who they can add to make an impact on the group, and what priority Hoyer and the front office make in upgrading the offense.

“We have a good offense, it has some advantages,” Hoyer said. “We have a lot of young players among these guys. But yeah, if there are areas that we can clearly improve, I think we would try to do that. One of the challenges is that we have a lot of good players. To surpass those players, you have to exceed the bar on certain players by quite a bit to justify the move.”

The Cubs, as two straight 83-win seasons show, are not a bad team. But Hoyer’s challenge is to find a way to do them well. Making this a squad that isn’t on the sidelines – or worse, forgotten by the general public – but once again poses a challenge to the top of the league.

(Top photo by Bellinger: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)