Cubs players react to Cody Bellinger's return: 'He's one of us'

MESA, Ariz. – Cody Bellinger was in the Cubs’ spring training facility Sunday morning, as the two sides went through steps to finalize a three-year, $80 million contract.

Early Sunday morning, sources confirmed the sides had reached an agreement on the deal, which includes opt outs after the first and second years. The team has yet to announce Bellinger’s signing. But several of his teammates have already had the chance to welcome him back in person.

“Just so excited, man,” veteran pitcher Kyle Hendricks said in the clubhouse Sunday morning. “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 you wanted to be here, and to get it figured out for both sides is just so amazing for our ball club now.”

Bellinger was a driving force in the Cubs lineup last season, on a one-year, $17 million pillow contract. He’d hit free agency early, non-tendered by the Dodgers after a couple down seasons. Then he won 2023 National League Comeback Player of the Year and led the Cubs in batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.525) and 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, a little easier to approach and face for us.”

Reliever Julian Merryweather described Bellinger to the Sun-Times as “three different hitters.”

The past couple weeks, with no guarantees that the Cubs would land Bellinger, the team turned its focus in 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 last year’s offense is back, after falling one game shy of a postseason berth. And the Cubs bolstered their pitching staff this offseason with additions including starter Shota Imanaga and veteran reliever Héctor 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 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 two different positions, center field and first base.

Up-the-middle defense was a defining characteristic of the team when it was surging last year. 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 the team’s 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 their promising prospects, like center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and first baseman Michael Busch, in the long term. On the other side of the coin, Bellinger, 28, 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."