Forgotten footnote in the Cubs' Cody Bellinger trade quietly clears waivers

Even at the time, Chicago Cubs fans knew what the Cody Bellinger trade was: a good old-fashioned salary dump.

Coming off a down 2024 season (relative to his resurgent 2023 campaign), Bellinger and his $27.5 million salary were sent to New York to clear payroll space and a roster spot for the incoming Kyle Tucker.

It's a shame the Cubs never really put those savings to good use -- the closest they got is when they missed out on Alex Bregman in free agency -- but swapping out Bellinger for Tucker was enough to justify the deal, at least in most fans' eyes.

Of course, the Cubs didn't literally receive nothing in return. The Yankees generously sent reliever Cody Poteet to Chicago... and he proceeded to not even make the (stateside) Opening Day roster.

Poteet then found himself in Baltimore, where he made all of one appearance in April (giving up five runs in 2 2/3 innings) before landing on the injured list with right shoudler inflammation. He finally started his rehab assignment in August, but the Orioles cut him loose once rosters expanded in September.

To say the return for Bellinger was underwhelming is an understatement.

Cody Poteet's miserable season (and Chicago's failure to spend) a reminder of how badly the Cubs fumbled the Cody Bellinger trade

Again, the whole point of the Bellinger trade was to move his salary off the books, and the Cubs accomplished that by getting the Yankees to sign up for all but $5 million of his remaining contract between 2025 and 2026.

Still, Bellinger wasn't that bad in 2024 (108 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR), and getting nothing more than a fringe major league reliever for him always reeked of financial desperation. That was a move clearly dictated by the Ricketts family, not the front office.

Of course, Poteet never played with the Cubs, so their end of the deal approximated to nothing. Meanwhile, Bellinger has been resurgent once again in the Bronx this season, slashing .279/.333/.504 (130 wRC+) with 26 home runs, good for 4.3 fWAR when combined with his usually-stellar defense across all three outfield spots (five Outs Above Average, eight Defensive Runs Saved).

Even when acknowledging that he's obviously benefited from playing in Yankee Stadium (he'd have just 22 homers if he played every game in Wrigley Field), that sure sounds like a player this Cubs team could use, no? Sure, you could make the case that he'd have nowhere to play on this roster, what with Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Tucker dominating the outfield (and Michael Busch entrenched at first base), but Bellinger's 130 wRC+ would rank third on the team.

Oh well. At least Cody Poteet is a free agent and the Cubs saved $20 million on their bottom line.