The greatest match for the Chicago Cubs stays out there in free company.
And but the ready recreation continues for outfielder Cody Bellinger and the Cubs. A reunion after a stellar one-year partnership in 2023 makes quite a lot of sense between the 2 sides.
Bellinger, 28, was a dynamic drive in the course of the Cubs lineup, giving them much-needed energy from the left facet they nonetheless haven’t adequately addressed even with the commerce acquisition of top-50 prospect Michael Busch. For Bellinger, it will be a return to an setting and hitting infrastructure the place he thrived in a bounce-back season that confirmed what he’s nonetheless able to when totally wholesome.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, although, has demonstrated over his three-plus years on this place that the Cubs might be principled in how they function in free company. Bellinger’s agent Scott Boras has additionally not been afraid to attend issues out, even when it means his high gamers don’t signal till spring coaching is underway. The Cubs ideally want to have their roster in place by the point pitchers and catchers report back to Mesa, Ariz., on Feb. 14. Given how a lot work nonetheless must be achieved with three weeks to go, that may not occur, particularly if the Cubs are keen to attend and see how Bellinger’s free-agency courtship performs out.
“We don’t have any fixed deadline,” basic supervisor Carter Hawkins stated earlier this month. “I believe in an ideal world you might have your staff going into spring coaching. I believe quite a lot of these gamers that register March and into the season, there’s only a robust transition part to get again up to the mark once you’re behind the eight ball that means. It doesn’t imply that it might probably’t work, however simply looks as if it’s more durable to work. That’s anecdotal after all.
“We wouldn’t rule it out. That’d be foolish for us to rule anything out. But, yeah, we’d much prefer to get our team sooner than later.”
If Bellinger’s Cubs teammates had any affect on whether or not the slugger returns, he garnered unanimous assist for a reunion just lately through the Cubs Convention.
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks credited Bellinger’s position in a collectively robust protection that took stress off the pitching employees and what it will imply to have that kind of dynamic participant come again to Chicago, although the veteran additionally understands this can be a enterprise. Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong hopes Bellinger re-signs, whatever the affect it will have on his taking part in time.
Left fielder Ian Happ applauded Bellinger for going by way of what has grow to be a chronic free-agent course of and being within the robust a part of negotiations at this level of the offseason, nonetheless not figuring out the place he’ll play in 2024 and past. Happ stated a part of why he agreed to a shorter three-year extension was so the entrance workplace may pursue larger, longer-term free-agent offers in a win-now setting. Bellinger will surely match these parameters.
“If they want to move on from me in three years, that’s their prerogative and they can do it so I think they’re going to build the team in the best way that they see fit and as players, we trust Jed and Carter to do that and give us a chance to compete at the top of the division and into the playoffs,” Happ stated.
Left-hander Justin Steele stated it was arduous to explain the affect Bellinger had final yr however that the Cubs would have a large gap to switch if he doesn’t return.
“Everybody saw what he did on the field and it was obviously magnificent what he was able to do, but the teammate and the person behind the player is by far the best attribute he has,” Steele stated. “The guy showed up in the locker room every day with a smile on his face, good vibes, everybody wants to show up and talk to him that day. So that for me, that’s something that goes such a long way, especially with young guys coming up.”
Bellinger’s defensive flexibility could be a coveted asset for supervisor Craig Counsell and the Cubs’ roster development. Playing at an elite degree in middle subject and first base didn’t go unappreciated by Dansby Swanson, significantly with the way it will help with mixing and matching with the lineup, permitting a supervisor to “press a few different buttons that not maybe any other team could.”
Since signing with the Cubs final offseason, Swanson has been in common communication with Hoyer and Hawkins, bouncing concepts off one another, speaking brazenly and being trustworthy with the shortstop when strikes is likely to be taking place. Swanson is assured that, Bellinger or no Bellinger, the entrance workplace isn’t achieved enhancing a roster that fell one recreation in need of the postseason.
“At the end of the day, they have a plan, they know what they want,” Swanson stated. “They know what they’re looking for. The market overall has been slow. I mean, other than, the billion dollars out west, there really hasn’t been a ton. … They know that we need to get better and we will get better and I think you’ve started to see that recently with some things starting to fall in place and I think that’s only going to continue to grow from there.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com