On his way to becoming one of the top two free agent hitters available this winter, center fielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger declined a qualifying offer from the Cubs.
The move was essentially procedural but guarantees draft pick compensation for the Cubs if Bellinger signs with another team. He was one of seven players who rejected $20.325 million qualifying offers from their clubs, the MLB Players Association announced Tuesday, including Shohei Ohtani, this winter’s biggest free agent.
A trio of starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Aaron Nola and Sonny Gray — closer Josh Hader and third baseman Matt Chapman also rejected qualifying offers, hitting free agency.
Bellinger had a bounce-back year with the Cubs this past season, winning a silver slugger and posting a career-best .307 batting average. Earlier this month, Bellinger declined his part of a 2024 mutual option, as expected.
“Cody did have a great experience in Chicago,” Bellinger’s agent Scott Boras said at the GM meetings last week. “. . . But where Cody can play and play well — he feels he can play well anywhere. And a lot of this has to do with ownership. It has to do with their commitment, it has to do [with] their vision of what they’re going to do to develop the other track to do the things that are necessary to make this club a continual winner over a long period of time.”
The Cubs also added three pitching prospects to the 40-man roster Tuesday, protecting them from the Rule 5 Draft. They selected the contracts of left-hander Bailey Horn from Triple-A Iowa, right-hander Porter Hodge from Double-A Tennessee and righty Michael Arias from High-A South Bend.
