5 players who are entering their final days on the Cubs

1. Cody Bellinger

Earlier in this exercise, we envisioned what the Cubs' 2025 outfield may look like if Cody Bellinger returns because he does nto exercise his player opt-out at the end of this season. Here is the thing with that scenario, for the Cubs, the best-case scenario is for Bellinger to elect for free agency this winter.

The hunch here is that if Bellinger wasn't dealing with a broken finger in Juy, the Cubs would have moved the outfielder at the Trade Deadline and found a way to be creative with the opt-out clauses that Bellinger has after this season and next. The hunch here is that even if Bellinger doesn't opt out, the Cubs will look to trade him this offseason in a creative deal.

That type of creativity will define the Cubs' offseason. Even if it means that the Cubs have to kick in some financial protections, moving Bellinger will give the team much more flexibility in addressing their offensive needs. There will be those who ask how moving Bellinger improves the Cubs' offense, and that is a valid question. This scenario involves trusting the Cubs' front office to be aggressive in attacking their offensive need for power. Otherwise, yes, moving Bellinger would be a dangerous proposition.