MESA, Ariz. — When it became clear that Cody Bellinger’s best option was going to be a flexible short-term contract, signing with the Cubs was his priority. He’d made it clear to his representation that he wanted to return.
“We were so close last year to becoming a playoff team,” Bellinger said in a news conference Wednesday. “And that was a pretty important piece for me, was to get back here, and I want to help bring this team to the playoffs.”
He has taken the first steps to making that desire a reality. Wednesday marked Bellinger’s first day in camp with the Cubs since signing a three-year, $80 million contract, which includes opt outs after the first and second years.
Bellinger jumped right in, catching fly balls in center field, running the bases and taking batting practice in Sloan Park before the team’s Cactus League game against the Brewers in Maryvale.
“I was craving baseball,” he said. “I was fiending for it.”
Bellinger’s free agency dragged into the first week of spring-training games, but the Cubs aren’t worried about his ramp-up.
“I don’t see any reason to go quickly here,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ve got plenty of time.”
Bellinger isn’t expected to appear in any games this week. He’ll stand in on bullpen sessions and take live batting practice before progressing to game action. But his late arrival to camp shouldn’t impact his readiness for Opening Day.
“We’re adding a really good player to our mix,” Counsell said. “A multiposition, every-day player, left-handed hitter, obviously proven, going to hit in the middle of the lineup. So there’s a lot of things that player brings to the table that it’s hard to find, and we’re lucky to get them.”
Bellinger confirmed that when he entered free agency, the possibility of signing a deal that would take him through the end of his career crossed his mind.
“Ultimately, that’s the goal,” he said. “For me, I talked to [my agent, Scott Boras] continuously to see what was going on. And at the end of the day, super excited how it all worked out.”
According to Boras, he and Bellinger agreed that there were two possible positive outcomes to his free agency. One was a very long contract, and the other was a shorter deal with flexibility. It wouldn’t make sense at 28 years old to take an in-between deal of five or six years.
The Cubs were more likely to fall into the second category.
“Our dynamic was to determine what it was on the other end, with a contract of great length,” Boras said.
The offseason dragged on. At the Cubs Convention in January, Bellinger’s former teammates spoke glowingly of him.
Shortstop Dansby Swanson was the most direct, saying on stage during a hitters panel, “Before we get to next year, we’ve got to re-sign Belli.”
“It was amazing, just the constant support from the teammates,” Bellinger said. “Obviously, everyone knew how great of a time I had last year and how great of a clubhouse that we had.”
Boras and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had been in conversation about Bellinger’s future since July. But last week, chairman Tom Ricketts said those talks hadn’t yet transitioned into “negotiations.” Ricketts called for Boras to “engage.”
“With any negotiation, I think there’s sometimes a misperception that we just fire offers back and forth to each other,” Hoyer said. “There’s a lot of talking about what each side wanted. And over the last five to seven days before we got a deal done, we targeted a deal that made sense for both sides.”
Bellinger’s return wasn’t quite set in stone when he saw Swanson at a birthday party for Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman’s kids.
“He was giving me a hard time, just about life,” Swanson said.
But Bellinger didn’t mention that the deal was almost done.
That night, at around 10:30 p.m., Swanson woke up to his phone ringing. He saw Bellinger was trying to FaceTime him.
“I hung up on him,” Swanson said. “I didn’t even look, I just clicked it off. And I was like, ‘What does he want?’ And I went back to bed.”
The next morning, Swanson woke up to another call from Bellinger. This time he picked up. And Bellinger broke the news to him that they were going to be teammates again.
“I was like, maybe I should have answered last night,” Swanson said.
The Cubs made the deal official Tuesday evening, Swanson’s Cubs Convention to-do list for the team finally complete.
“I was always very, very optimistic and hopeful,” Swanson said. “Then obviously now, with the news being official, I think -everyone’s in a really good spot.”
