What Cody Bellinger's deal with the Cubs means for the Blue Jays and Matt Chapman

Another chapter in the book of 2024 MLB free agency was finally closed, as it was announced in the early hours of Sunday morning that OF Cody Bellinger had reached a three-year, $80 million deal with the Chicago Cubs which included opt-out clauses after the first and second year.

Bellinger was one of the most sought-after names in this winter’s free-agent class and while that statement may be relative to the overall substance of the class itself, a former National League MVP off of a bounce-back year who is still only 28 years old carries a lot of deserved attention. He slashed .307/.356/.525 with an .881 OPS, 26 homers, 96 RBIs, 20 stolen bases and 29 doubles for the Cubs last season. That 2023 campaign was a breath of fresh air for Bellinger and his representation given his 2020-2022 seasons accumulated a .203/.272/.376 slash line and a grim look at his then-first round of free agency.

While the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees had a lot of noise surrounding Bellinger, the Cubs were seemingly always rumored to retain him and it came with good reason. The club is entering a competitive window and maybe Chicago is the place where Bellinger can find and maintain a high level of production.

Bellinger’s signing may be the final motion that causes the rest of the dominoes to fall in this year’s still-crowded crop. The most notable names in the group are the rest of the “Boras Four”: 3B Matt Chapman and SPs Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell. Those three (plus Bellinger) are all represented by agent Scott Boras and they have been the free agents with the most question marks as spring training gets into full force. Their initial asking prices were high, teams haven’t been willing to pay and it came down to who would be the first one to blink, an action that might have even more pressure to it now that spring training has started.

So, how does Bellinger’s signing impact the Blue Jays? While Toronto presumably has their 2024 roster complete, the price that Chicago got for Bellinger makes a reunion between Chapman and the Blue Jays feel all the more possible.

It was reported that Bellinger had an asking price of $200-plus million for his next contract and he wound up signing a deal for less than half of that. Chapman has also been looking for a hefty deal somewhere in the range of $150 million over five years. The third-baseman market has been marked with recent expensive, long-term deals; let’s just say dinner is on Manny Machado (11 years/$350 million), Rafael Devers (10/$313.5 million), Nolan Arenado (nine/$275 million)  or Jose Ramirez (seven/$141 million).

Teams haven’t budged on Chapman’s asking price and it’s what has ultimately led to one of the most fascinating free-agent markets in recent history. Given the amount of time it has taken to get these deals done, one can only assume Chapman is going to get a deal fairly similar to Bellinger’s 3/80 contract with opt-outs.

For their part, the Blue Jays look to have their roster set for this season. GM Ross Atkins semi-confirmed this last week when he mentioned that making any more additions would provoke subtraction in another way. Atkins has said in previous seasons that he was never not thinking about making the team better and moves like this prove that you can’t sit in concrete with roster construction, meaning that his statements last week should be taken with a grain of salt.