Cubs Rumors: MLB insider won't rule out other potential suitors for Cody Bellinger

The Chicago Cubs open up their 2024 Cactus League slate in a few hours, but they'll do so without Cody Bellinger in the lineup. Bellinger, along with the other three high-profile Scott Boras clients, remain unsigned as baseball's super-agent tries to convince teams they're worth far more than it seems front offices currently value them.

MLB insider Jon Heyman spoke on 670 The Score this week, offering an update (well, sort of) on Bellinger and where things stand, saying that he 'wouldn't guarantee' the Cubs are the only suitor for the reigning NL Comeback Player of the Year.

That's a bit obvious, because the overwhelming majority of the teams in the league would surely love to add Bellinger at the right price, but it still feels like if Bellinger ends up with a longer-term, higher-dollar deal, Chicago is the only option barring a dramatic change of stance somewhere else in the league.

Cubs still feel like the likeliest landing spot for Cody Bellinger, unless he suddenly pivots to a short-term deal again

Brett over at Bleacher Nation did a great job breaking down the entire Heyman appearance and you should definitely check that out. For our intents and purposes here, let's stay focused on what we know (which, admittedly, isn't a lot because the Bellinger pursuit has been pretty hush-hush all winter).

Last week, when he held court with the media, Tom Ricketts said that while the Cubs had talked with Boras on Bellinger, things hadn't proceeded to the point of legitimate negotiations. It seems safe to assume, then, that Hoyer gave his camp a rough idea of what Chicago had in mind in talks, but hard numbers and years haven't been discussed just yet.

The gap between what Boras is shooting for and where the Cubs are comfortable could legitimately be $100 million. We've heard he's targeting anywhere between $200-250 million for Bellinger, and it's hard to envision any team coming anywhere near that in a final offer to the former MVP.

The way the Cubs fall off the top of the pecking order in the Bellinger sweepstakes is if, all of the sudden, he has a change of heart and settles for another short-term deal to prove, once and for all, that he's back to being an MVP-caliber player whose health issues are a thing of the past. If that happens, it's a wide-open race. But until that happens, I have to believe the Cubs remain the likeliest landing spot for him, even though this saga could stretch on a few more weeks.