Did Nike's new jersey release reveal Cubs are poised to re-sign Cody Bellinger?

February is upon us and, still, Cody Bellinger remains unsigned. As recently as last weekend, reports indicated the reigning NL Comeback Player of the Year is yet to receive any formal contract offer as the standoff between Scott Boras and front offices across the league.

Cubs fans have been clamoring for a reunion with Bellinger basically since the postseason ended - with chants of 'Cody, Cody, Cody' breaking out all weekend long at Cubs Convention in January and they're grasping at straws now over an email highlighting the new Nike jerseys that just dropped.

Cody Bellinger, Cubs still remain far apart in free agent contract talks

Why? Because only two Cubs players are featured on the email: Gold Glove shortstop Dansby Swanson and - you guessed it - Bellinger. It's an interesting choice and maybe it's just because some intern cooked up an email and those are the two biggest household names from the 2023 team. Or maybe the industry-wide expectation that Bellinger will eventually return to Chicago is so strong, the team at Nike felt confident selling his jersey heading into spring training.

Even with up-and-comers Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong looking to play key roles at both of Bellinger's positions (center field and first base) in 2024, Bellinger is the type of player you carve out at-bats for. We saw last year how transformative his skillset can be in the middle of the Cubs lineup and, assuming Boras comes off his outlanding demands of $200M+, a reunion makes a lot of sense for both sides.

In another uniform-related update, the email (shown above) that went out about these jerseys again showed an updated Cubs logo on the chest - one without the trademark that's been featured for decades now. It seems like this will be the direction moving forward, as Nike makes a number of uniform tweaks and updates across the league.