Cubs $80 million former MVP predicted to walk to Mets in free agency | Sporting News
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The winter of 2024 will be a pivotal one for the Chicago Cubs.
Barring an unexpected last-minute playoff push, the Cubs will enter the offseason with the taste of disappointment lingering in their mouths. Expected to make a run at a National League Central title this year, the Cubs stumbled in mid-May and never fully recovered.
The Cubs still have a lot of things going for them–there’s a solid core already in place for 2025, plus a number of highly-touted prospects approaching the majors. But much of what the Cubs will do next season is predicated around one player’s impending decision.
Former Most Valuable Player Cody Bellinger, who signed with the Cubs for the second season in a row in 2024, has to decide whether or not to exercise his opt-out for 2025. He is slated to make $27.5 million next season if he remains with Chicago.
On Friday, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter predicted that Bellinger would not only opt out of his Cubs deal, but that the superstar would sign with an NL rival, the New York Mets.
“The Mets are expected to make a run at Juan Soto in free agency, but if they miss out on signing him, Cody Bellinger could be a logical fallback plan,” Reuter said. “That is, of course, if he opts out of the final two years of his current contract with the Chicago Cubs for another run at free agency.”
Whether Bellinger opts out is one of the key questions of the offseason not only for the Cubs, but the entire league. Given his up-and-down performance through the years, it’s hard to say whether Bellinger will prove a bargain or a bust if he hits the open market again.
This season, Bellinger has a .749 OPS/109 OPS+ in 110 games. That makes him a very useful major league player, but not a superstar worthy of a nine-figure deal.
Any team paying top dollar for Bellinger this winter would be banking on a return to his 2023 All-Star form, if not the 2019 version of the lefty slugger that won MVP.
All the Cubs can do at this point is wait and see. If Bellinger opts back in, they know they have a versatile player with a high upside they can pencil back into their lineup for 2024. If he doesn’t, then they have to think long and hard about whether to match the price tag that a team like the Mets could drive upward.
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