MESA, Ariz. — Cody Bellinger was in the Cubs’ spring-training facility Sunday morning as the sides went through steps to finalize a three-year, $80 million contract.
Early in the morning, sources confirmed the sides had reached an agreement on the deal, which includes opt-outs after the first and second years. The Cubs have yet to announce Bellinger’s signing, but several of his teammates already have had the chance to welcome him back in person.
‘‘Just so excited, man,’’ right-hander Kyle Hendricks said in the clubhouse. ‘‘You see the reactions in here. We’ve always been hoping for it. Not expecting it in any way, but we’ve known where he’s at, we know how much [he] wanted to be here, and to get it figured out for both sides is just so amazing for our ballclub now.’’
Bellinger, 28, was a driving force in the Cubs’ lineup last season, when he played on a one-year, $17 million contract. He had hit free agency shortly after the World Series in 2022 after being non-tendered by the Dodgers in the wake of a couple of down seasons. Then he was voted National League Comeback Player of the Year in 2023 after leading the Cubs in batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.525), OPS (.881) and RBI (97).
Batting cleanup for most of the season, he brought the threat of damage to the heart of the batting order. But in two-strike counts with runners on base, he also had a knack for poking a bloop single into the outfield to drive in a run.
‘‘Those are the guys that are most difficult to face,’’ Hendricks said. ‘‘They’re facing you throughout the whole at-bat, changing their approach in certain ways in certain situations. The guys that go up there as one hitter, [they’re] a little easier to approach and face for us.”
Reliever Julian Merryweather described Bellinger to the Sun-Times as ‘‘three different hitters.’’
In the last couple of weeks, with no guarantees that they would be able to re-sign Bellinger, the Cubs turned the focus of their public comments to internal improvement.
‘‘We kind of always felt like [this was a complete team], in a way,’’ Hendricks said. ‘‘But Belli was a unique situation. He’s part of this club; he’s one of us. And there was a little void in here, for sure, before he came back.’’
Now the core of the Cubs’ offense is back after the team fell one game shy of a postseason berth last season. And the Cubs bolstered their pitching staff during the offseason, too, with the additions of starter Shota Imanaga and reliever Hector Neris.
‘‘At this point, we’re all really excited to kind of run it back from last year,’’ Merryweather said. ‘‘And we have a great core of players that is coming back and some familiar faces, and I think that plays well for us and as a clubhouse. Familiarity is going to play big early in the year.’’
Beyond his offensive production, Bellinger provides above-average to elite defense in center field and at first base.
Up-the-middle defense was a defining characteristic of the Cubs when they were surging last season. And when Bellinger took on playing first base part-time in the second half, his ability to steal outs with a deft pick helped elevate their already-standout infield.
‘‘It’s a good feeling, definitely, when you’re able to just throw it anywhere in the same area as him,’’ third baseman Nick Madrigal said. ‘‘He has such a good glove over there. . . . He boosts the team in so many ways.’’
The structure of Bellinger’s contract makes a lot of sense for the Cubs. It’s a shorter deal, ensuring that the team isn’t blocking some of its promising prospects, such as center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and first baseman Michael Busch, in the long term. On the other side of the coin, Bellinger gets a higher average annual value and the power to choose when to hit free agency again.
‘‘There’s who he is as a baseball player, and that’s obviously massive for us,’’ second baseman Nico Hoerner said. ‘‘But then just his presence within the clubhouse and the lineup makes everybody else better. And it’s not really a measurable thing, but it’s something I definitely really believe in.’’
