Chicago Cubs Could Lose MVP Slugger to National League Powerhouse in Free Agency

The Chicago Cubs could lose their superstar to a National League rival.

Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs are entering the offseason with a lot of questions after a fourth consecutive missed postseason and an identical 2024 record as 2023 despite making Craig Counsell the highest paid manager in the history of baseball last winter.

With regards to free agency, the picture for Chicago will become a lot more clear when they find out on the status of one of their superstars, 2019 National League MVP Cody Bellinger. The star slugger faces an opt out question from the contract he signed last offseason with a $27.5 million player option. Given that Bellinger is represented by Scott Boras, the chances of him testing the open market again feel more likely than not.

If Bellinger does indeed decide to opt out, it's probably more likely than not that he will be finding another team to play for in 2025. While the Cubs would probably prefer that he ends up somewhere that couldn't possibly impact them, one possibility given by Christopher Kline of FanSided was the Philadelphia Phillies, where he would team up with former Chicago star Kyle Schwarber and strengthen the lineup of a team that was one of the best in baseball during the regular season and has been a fixture in the National League playoff picture for the last three years.

"Bellinger would take Philadelphia to the next level and potentially position the Phillies as favorites to emerge from the National League fray, which is bad enough for the Cubs, who have postseason aspirations of their own," Kline wrote. "Watching Bellinger team up with another beloved former Cub in Kyle Schwarber, however, would sting even more. There'd be a lot of memories there, and any success Schwarber and Bellinger experience in tandem would raise the age-old question of 'what if.'"

If the Cubs hope to take the next step and try to contend in 2025, letting arguably their best offensive player walk away and head right to a team that will try to prevent them from getting to the World Series might not be the best idea.

Bellinger seems like he would be a good fit in Philadelphia and strengthen a lineup that already has championship aspirations, and if they're willing to give him a massive deal, there might not be much the Cubs could or should do.