The Chicago Cubs are not a part of the 2023 MLB postseason, but there are plenty of players who are still pushing their teams deep into October that Cubs fans have been pushing to have call Wrigley Field home.
Take a look up and down the Philadelphia Phillies lineup and names like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos jump out for what they have done this October to keep the Phillies churning toward a return to the Fall Classic. As Harper pointed out after the Phillies downed the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, adding in the importance of signing Trea Turner to a massive contract in the offseason, "That's why you spend the money, baby."
Chicago Cubs fans see Phillies spending money and wonder what's next at Wrigley Field
Of course, there was talk about Turner playing for the Cubs this offseason before Chicago inked Dansby Swanson to his own big deal. Schwarber has already made an impact for the Cubs, helping the franchise win a World Series before leaving as a free agent before the 2021 campaign. Harper and Castellanos have both teased Chicago fans in the past, as Patrick Mooney pointed out in this article for The Athletic (subscription required).
All of those "what if" questions are playing themselves out in living color for Cubs fans, who are already feeling the chill of a long winter settling in on the North Side, knowing their team put their names in the hat for all of those players and came up short.
But getting Harper, Schwarber and Castellanos to the City of Brotherly Love wasn't cheap. As Mooney points out, their contracts total 22 years and $509 million. That doesn't even take Turner's 11-year, $300 million deal into the mix.
Now the Cubs will weigh the value of Cody Bellinger this offseason after he more than came through on his ine-year, $17.5 million "prove it" deal in 2023, He slashed .307/.356/.525 with 26 homers and 97 RBI in 556 plate appearances, upping his value for 2024 ... as well as the potential that his comeback year in Chicago could be his only year in the Windy City.
Cubs fans have seen big names sign big contracts elsewhere and it pay off for those teams. Could Bellinger be next?
"Cody had a great summer," Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was quoted as saying in Mooney's article. "He's a great teammate. Any team would like to have him, including us. But the free-agent markets, we'll see where that goes. That will be up to Jed on how he puts those resources to work."
Cubs fans have been teased before, and Bellinger and his potential future in another uniform could be the latest in that line of teases and eventual disappointments.
