Cody Bellinger returning to Cubs, agrees to three-year, $80 million deal

After an offseason of Cubs players singing Cody Bellinger’s praises and fans calling for the team to bring him back, the front office has fulfilled their wishes.

Bellinger and the Cubs have agreed to a three-year, $80 million contract, a source confirmed. The deal includes opt-outs after the first and second years. Bellinger returns to Chicago, where he won the 2023 National League Comeback Player of the Year award after being non-tendered by the Dodgers the year before.

He was the Cubs’ best hitter last season, a silver slugger who led the team in batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.525) and OPS (881) and RBI (97). After phenom Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers in December, Bellinger was the best available free agent hitter. Replacing his offense was the last major item on the Cubs’ offseason to-do list.

At Cubs Convention this year, with Bellinger still a free agent, his teammates’ glowing reviews of his defensive versatility, clubhouse presence and leadership — on top of his offensive contributions — provided the best glimpse into why the Cubs pursued him to the end.

“It was amazing,” veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks said of having Bellinger on the team last year. “Just the defense as a whole, I think the whole pitching staff kind of talks about it. That’s what we had in the years past over our best years, was a good defense. And that was the stalwart of this team. Up the middle we were so strong, Belli in center — having the versatility of going first, too.”

Before signing Bellinger, the Cubs had options at center field and first base. Over the offseason the Cubs traded for infielder Michael Busch, who has been taking reps at first base along with Patrick Wisdom. Cubs top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong debuted in September, and he’s been working alongside Mike Tauchman and fellow rookie Alexander Canario in center field.

Bellinger’s addition strengthens both positions.

On Crow-Armstrong’s first day in the big-leagues, he remembers, he got to catch up with Bellinger during on-field batting practice in Colorado.

“He just spent 30 minutes talking to me,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He and I had already known each other, but just that in itself was really cool. That shows that he cares, plain and simple. And he’s a good leader for that. Great clubhouse guy, brings great energy.”

Teams do plenty of research on a player’s off-the-field makeup, but it’s hard to know exactly the impact an addition will make on a clubhouse until he’s there.

Lefty Justin Steele acknowledged in January that if the Cubs didn’t bring Bellinger back, the absence of his leadership would leave a hole.

“He’s one of them guys that does a really good job of leading by example,” Steele said. “He’s not just rolling out to the game every day. He’s doing his work, he’s doing what it takes each and every day to be prepared. So I think that’s [we’d] miss the most.”

Bellinger’s free agency stretched out late, but then again, so did the market in general. In that way, this offseason was reminiscent of 2019, when Manny Machdo didn’t sign with the Padres until late February, and Bryce Harper inked his contract with the Phillies in early March.

“He’s going through the process, which is what he’s played this long and this hard to be able to do,” said outfielder Ian Happ, a member of the MLB Players Association executive subcommittee, back in January. “Right now, it’s probably the hardest part of the process, being at this point in the year and not knowing where you’re going. It takes a lot to be able to get all the way through that, and I applaud him and respect him for going through the whole thing.”