Morning Rundown: Cody Bellinger traded to the New York Yankees
Yankees, Cubs, strike a deal for former MVP
The Chicago Cubs made another trade on Tuesday, sending former MVP Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees.
It was a move that was expected as the Cubs were looking to shed Bellinger’s salary after he picked up his player option for the 2025 season. After getting MVP votes in 2023, his first with the Cubs, Belling had a ‘down’ season last year.
In 130 games, Bellinger hit .266/.325/.426 with 18 home runs and 78 RBI.
The Cubs also sent $5 million in cash, meaning the Yankees will need to cover the final $45 million in Bellinger’s contract, which also features a player option after the 2025 season.
Chicago received right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet in return for Bellinger.
Poteet, 30, posted a 2.22 ERA (4.33 xFIP) with 16 strikeouts and eight walks in 24.1 innings pitched this past year for the Yankees. He has a 3.80 ERA over 83 career innings in the majors.
The Cubs and the Yankees have been two of the busier teams the last couple of days. Chicago acquired outfielder Kyle Tucker, with the Yankees adding some bullpen help in Devin Williams.
This wasn’t the only deal the Cubs made, as they sent catcher Matt Thaiss to the White Sox in exchange for cash. He was originally acquired from the Angels, but after the Cubs signed Carson Kelly, Thaiss was deemed expendable.
Thaiss could factor in as the team’s backup behind Korey Lee, but the White Sox do have two of the top catching prospects in all of baseball in Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero.
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So, baseball's big report on pitching injuries is out. Mostly not a lot that is controversial, insightful, or new to people following the sport. The drive for more spin and more velocity is causing more pitching injuries owing to max effort deliveries, even to younger players, prior to beginning their MLB careers.
What is interesting is the observation that many of these injuries are occurring early in the season or even in spring training. The folk behind the study seem to think that too much pitch-design work and development in the offseason is causing pitchers to show up injury prone to spring training. Pitching injuries decline as the season wears on.
There seems to be something missing here though, and there is a lot of speculation, without much real evidence, about why pitching injuries are much more common early in a season. This needs more study. Could guys be tweaking mechanics in ways that put unnatural stress on their arm as they experiment in the off-season while they work on pitch design? Seems like they need another study that drills down on whether off-season work on mechanics correlates to early-season injuries and what types of changes correlate to early season injuries.
The Yankees got the best of this one IMO. Bellinger is not Juan Soto, but in that lineup, in the AL East, he could be a 30 HR add to the lineup. He averaged 22 HR for the Cubs the last two years, and the AL East is a very nice location for a LH power hitter - has some of the shortest RF distances in MLB, led by Yankee Stadium. The Cubs will also send $5 mil - $2.5 mil in 2025 and $2.5 mil in 2026.
I think Belli increased his value by dropping his K Rate from around 26% with the Dodgers down to about 15% both years with the Cubs. He did so while increasing his BB rate to around 8% and averaging 26 Doubles/22 HR/88 RBI. The Cubs had to move one of their LH OF bats so his departure assures Pete Crow-Armstrong of staying in the starting lineup in CF, and Owen Caissie probably a bump to the majors out of ST or early in the season so they do not lose a year of control.