Cubs trade Bellinger to Yankees, introduce Tucker
The Cubs set up an interesting order of events Tuesday.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and new addition Kyle Tucker spoke to reporters via Zoom. When those interviews were complete, the Cubs traded Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees for right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet.
According to multiple reports, the Cubs will send $5 million to New York in the deal. Bellinger's contract, which is worth $27 million next season with an option for 2026 for $25 million, made any sort of trade difficult. But with the Yankees losing Juan Soto in free-agency, and with a short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium, adding the left-handed hitting Bellinger made sense. His father Clay played for the Yankees from 1999-2001.
This is a trade that had been rumored for at least a week. By trading for Tucker, the Cubs had a logjam at right field and first base. Now with Bellinger out of the picture, the likely lineup for 2025 includes Tucker in right field, Michael Busch at first base, Seiya Suzuki at DH and rookie Matt Shaw at third.
The next question is whether the Cubs do something with the money saved by moving Bellinger. There's been buzz about a trade for Marlins LHP Jesus Luzardo, rumors of possible interest in free-agent RHP Corbin Burnes, who played for manager Craig Counsell in Milwaukee.
They also need a closer and could conceivably consider veteran options at third base. The Cubs sent their third basemen of the present and future, Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith, to Houston in the Tucker trade, along with RHP Hayden Wesneski.
Hoyer shrugged his shoulders when asked about Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki. The Cubs are one of several teams that have made sales pitches to Sasaki.
Hoyer spent much of his session talking about Tucker and the belief he can be the superstar hitter the Cubs need.
“It did feel like we lacked that consolidation of WAR on our roster in one player,” Hoyer said. “Obviously, Tucker is one of the best players in baseball, period. To acquire a player like that, it comes at a real price, but it was a price we were willing to pay.”
Tucker will be a free agent after the 2025 season, so the success of this trade depends on whether the Cubs can sign him to a long-term deal. As a business decision, it would be wise for Tucker to hit the open market, but he didn't rule out signing an extension before free-agency begins.
“I'm always open to talks, see where that leads,” Tucker said. “I'm always open to that. You never know what the future is going to hold. Definitely Chicago is a great city to play in, great city in general. So I'm open for anything.”
Hoyer didn't want to predict the outcome of a future Tucker contract, but the Cubs are obviously one of the richer teams in MLB and probably wouldn't have made the trade if they didn't feel confident they could meet his price.
“I don't know what the future holds, but obviously Chicago sells itself really well,” Hoyer said. “I'm excited to bring him in this year and we'll see where it goes beyond that.”
New acquisition Poteet, 30, has three seasons of MLB experience, splitting time between starting and relief. The Cubs likely plan to use him out of the bullpen, and he was successful in 2024, sporting a 2.22 ERA in 24 innings.
Poteet's fastball averaged 93.3 miles per hour last season. He throws five pitches, with his four-seam, sinker and change all producing a sub-.200 batting average from opposing hitters.