| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cody Poteet | 30 | Majors | LRP | SP | Medium | 3 | 1.9 | 1 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
Total Value:
0.9
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cody Bellinger | 29 | Majors | CF | 1B | Low | 2 | 46.1 | 52.5 | -6.4 | -7.6 | -6.4 | -5.1 |
| Cash | 5 |
Total Value:
-1.40
Seems pretty fair based on BBTV model. Mostly a salary dump for the Cubs. I’m OK with it.
Pure speculation: I’d guess Cashman adjusted his offer today to absorb more money and give up less prospect capital. There were rumors that Cash and Jed were more than $10 million apart with Will Warren being the potential return to the Cubs. Maybe Cashman was offering Warren for Bellinger + $15m, Cubs liked Warren but only wanted to give $5m in cash, so Yankees offered Poteet for Belli + $5m. Just a guess.
Benjy, you’ll want to keep this pic of Jed handy this year. https://x.com/moralesupplyco/status/1869088270489100655
I like this trade. Salary dumb for Cubs with Yanks giving up rarely nothing but Poteet can most likely help Cubs pen. Win for both sides
Love it for Yankees
Cubs trade 3 players for 1yr of Tucker then trade 2yrs of Bellinger for 3yrs of Poteet with some salary savings… feels like there’s more to come
At this point in the offseason, the Cubs have added one (1) year of Kyle Tucker, and two seasons (2) each of Matthew Boyd, and Carson Kelly, and traded away potentially two (2) seasons of Cody Bellinger, five (5) seasons of Hayden Wesneski, three (3) seasons of Isaak Paredes, and six (6) of Cam Smith. While one can argue that the team is stronger in 2025 with these moves, the future of the organization has unquestionably been weakened. By my reckoning, their payroll is approximately $40 million less than it was at the start of the 2024 season. If Jed goes out and signs Tanner Scott and a Walker Buehler, or Jack Flaherty, in an effort to win in 2025, I’m okay with the Bellinger giveaway. But I am against giving away one more penny in prospect capital to improve the team. No deals for Luzardo, for example. Ricketts needs to put the money Jed has saved him into improving the club, or the Cubs fans may revolt.
Bellinger is crazy inconsistent and overrated. Cubs are a big winner swapping him for Tucker.
Wrigley Field is inconsistent. Bellinger looked as good at the plate last season as the year before. He always gives a good at bat whether there's a lefty, or righty, on the mound. His earlier career inconsistencies had everything to do with injury, not streakiness or ability. In a world where Soto get 765 million, how in the world is CB, in the prime of his career, not worth his existing contract? The second Suzuki, PCA, or Busch goes down with an injury, the folks patting Jed on the back will turn on him. Because he gave Belli away for nothing. I am not convinced that Jed will re-invest the savings from this stupid deal wisely, if at all. Only Jed makes trades first, then signs free agents later. Oh, great! Now Boras, and his ilk, will hold all the cards, instead of the Yankees. Hoyer needs to read a primer on negotiating.
In 2024, Stupid Jed paid Hendricks, Smyly, and Neris, who contributed NOTHING to the team, a combined 36 million. Plus, another 7.5 to Trey Mancini, who they cut back in 23. Where was all the concern about money then? Jed didn't even know if he was over the luxury tax, or not. Can you imagine that? Running a ball club and not even knowing if you're standing in the penalty box? He lets the whole world know that he's desperate to trade Bellinger. No wonder he got such a weak return. Baseball teams should be run like the Godfather. You never tell anybody what you're thinking. Hell, I won't even take my wife shopping for a high ticket item, because she gushes over everything she looks at, and I lose all my negotiating power. I wish the City of Chicago would claim eminent domain and take over the Cubs, before Ricketts and Jed lose every last fan in the stands. I think I'm having a heart attack. I better stop.
The Cubs got a weak return because Bellinger is not that good to begin with, but he’s paid like a star. He has had 1 truly good season in the past 5 years, along with 1 ok season and 3 bad seasons. I really don’t understand why anyone would be upset by the Cubs swapping Bellinger for Tucker. Cubs are a lot better for it.
MP, with all due respect, l think you need to look at the big picture here. When Soto signed his 765 million dollar contract that reset the bar for everyone. Cohen of the Mets is doing what Steinbrenner did back in the seventies and eighties. Inflating salaries. Players who are locked into old salaries are more, not less, valuable. Over roughly 4000 AB’s, Soto has avg. 35 homers and hit .285 per season. Over roughly 3500 AB’s, Bellinger has avg. 32 homers and hit .259. In addition, he plays a decent centerfield and is Gold Glove at first. Clearly, Soto is the better player, but not by that much, imo. He's making 50+ million per year. According to BTV, Belli has a field value of 46.1 over the next two years. AND HE’S ONLY WORTH CODY POTEET??? How anyone can argue that the Cubs are better without Bellinger on the roster is a mystery to me. Quite frankly, I don’t care that much about his salary. The Cubs are swimming in money. Besides, it was Stupid Jed who signed him to that deal. If you recall, last year all the pundits were predicting Cody would sign for 100-125 million at about 25 million per year. Jed gave him 80, but like the fool he is, agreed to all the opt outs. THIS DEAL WAS AN ABSOLUTE STEAL FOR THE YANKEES!
Benjo - You lost me at Soto is better than Bellinger but not by much. Then again when you said you don’t care about salaries when talking trade values.
Try to follow, and I will try to be more clear. Yes, I did say that I don’t care about the money. Why? Because the Dodgers didn’t care about the money, when it came to signing Ohtani. Cohen shells out $765 for Soto, and gets praised for it. Yet, for some reason that no one has made clear, the Cubs, who have already saved about $40-50 by releasing, or not re-upping, Alzolay, Bote, Hendricks, Smyly, Neris, Tauchman, Gomes, Almonte, etc., operate as though they are on the brink of bankruptcy. They are a big market team. They were not affected by the Bally Sports, BK. Supposedly, the Cubs were in on Ohtani. What, they have $500-700 to spend one year and are broke the next? Stupid Jed goes around talking about for “looking for value” in free agency, which I have previously compared to shopping for bargains at Tiffany’s. At a certain point, Cubs fans need to stop buying into all his b.s. Jed talks out of both sides of his mouth. Getting back to Belli, the Cubs made him a redundancy on the roster, when they acquired Tucker. They made him less valuable to the Cubs, but not the Yankees, where he has tremendous value. The deep well in RF at Wrigley is not condusive to lefties but the short porch at Yankee Stadium is. So, yeah, Cody, might be overpaid by 10-13 million on what’s remaining on his current contract (which Jed signed). And then again, he might not be, based on the Soto deal. But he has great field value as a player. The Cubs overpaid on Tucker, gave Belli away and have not addressed the teams biggest need going into the offseason—acquiring a dependable closer.
Benjo - I understand what it’s like to be frustrated by a sports team. Believe me I know. However, you’re wrong to keep comparing Bellinger to Ohtani and Soto. Those guys are in their prime and producing at MVP levels. Bellinger is swimming in the kiddy pool in comparison. Over the past 5 years, Bellinger has hit at a league average rate (100 wRC+) while compiling 8.7 fWAR. Soto (8.1 fWAR) and Ohtani (9.1 fWAR) basically hit Bellinger’s 5 year production on an annual basis. So let’s compare Bellinger to Tucker. Tucker is both good (producing 4-5 fWAR every year) and consistently good, which makes him much more valuable than Bellinger. Did the Cubs overpay for Tucker? Maybe, but the last two teams to trade Paredes both sold very low on him, so one could argue that his value isn’t properly reflected by BTV. In either event, the Cubs got Paredes on the cheap and they sold him on the cheap. Net-net, they probably paid fair value for Tucker. As far as Bellinger goes, his trade is shown as fair by BTV. You may think Soto has reset the entire pay scale, but until we have a year or two of data, that’s just your assumption. My assumption is that Soto/Ohtani money will NOT trickle down to the middle class, which is where I see Bellinger residing these days. Anyway, best to you and your Cubs.
Like non-tendering Kyle Schwarber.
I think Brian Cashman is deserving of congratulations for fleecing Jed and the Cubs once again. Starlin Castro for Adam Warren, whom he reacquired in the Chapman trade, along with Gleyber Torres. Then he signed Chapman in the off-season. Last year, it was Mark Leiter for a couple duds. Maybe Alcantara will turn into Clemente, but I still miss Rizzo. Cashman sitting across the table from Hoyer is like Bobby Fischer opposite a lab retriever.
@benjob, I blame Jed for going over the first luxury tax level by $100-200k last year and for having mediocre to terrible results at the last three trade deadlines. If you want to complain about the budget, you need to take it up with the brokest billionaires on the planet, the Ricketts family. Jed carefully built up a top five farm system in baseball and it’s time to flex those muscles. That means opening space on the big league roster for top 100 prospects to play (e.g., Shaw, Caissie, Alcanatara, etc) or trading them to improve the big roster at other positions. Need I remind you of the hundreds of trades you’ve proposed the past three off-seasons to cash in prospects in an effort to win now? The pressure is on lame duck Jed to field a playoff contender this year and as a Cubs fan, it should be thrilling that their roster is in the finest shape since the days of Rizzo, Bryant, El Mago, and Saint Theo.
I’m not a Cubs fan and won’t pretend I know more about their situation than you. However, I don’t think Bellinger is a keystone player the Cubs couldn’t afford to part with. He generated a whopping 109 wRC+ and 2.2 fWAR last year, while costing the Cubs $27MM. That ain’t good. Now, will Bellinger have a better year in New York hitting to the short porch in RF? Yeah, he probably will, but that doesn’t matter to the Cubs. They should have only cared about what he would do for them. Will the Cubs spend the salary savings on other players? Maybe not, but they damn sure won’t spend more money if they keep Bellinger’s remaining $53MM on the books. Outside looking in, the Cubs appear to be a better team today than last week and to have more payroll flexibility too. I like what they’ve done so far.