Are Cubs Waiting for Cody Bellinger to Get Healthy Before Making Seiya Suzuki a Full-Time DH?

[Matthew Trueblood]

The Cubs' incumbent right fielder isn't one, really, and they have 30 million reasons to spend the final several weeks of this season getting a good look at the player who will man that spot in 2025.

Image courtesy of © Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Though it wasn't quite for the reasons one might have hoped, during Cody Bellinger's absence in the wake of cracking his ribcage running into the wall early this season, Pete Crow-Armstrong gained a foothold as the team's regular center fielder. Meanwhile, and for much more exciting reasons, Michael Busch established himself as the team's everyday first baseman. Therefore, after Bellinger returned late in May (and once the lineup found its equilibrium again), a new arrangement emerged. The two youngsters mostly held onto their spots, and Bellinger slotted in most often as... the right fielder.

From Jun. 4 through the day on which Bellinger broke a finger and was lost for another three weeks, the Cubs played 33 games. In 17 of them, Seiya Suzuki started in right field, but in 14 others, he started at DH, and he made one start in left field. For a stretch from Jun. 22 through Jul. 3, Bellinger made eight of the 11 starts in right field. Once Bellinger got hurt again, the experiment ended, but it could be on the verge of beginning again now.

While Kyle Hendricks is the consummate teammate and tries not to spread blame when things go against him, he was evidently frustrated by Suzuki's failure to catch a very catchable ball in his last difficult outing. He's not the first Cubs pitcher to feel thus victimized, by a long shot; Suzuki really doesn't seem to be capable of playing an MLB-caliber right field. Too many balls fall in, somewhere between routine and truly difficult and closer to the former. Bellinger is going to be the answer at that position for 2025, not just because Crow-Armstrong and Busch have locked down his other two obvious positions, but because he's younger and better out there than Suzuki.

Right now, he's not capable to retaking the spot. His finger is still bothering him when he tries to throw hard, according to Craig Counsell, so he'll remain in the DH spot at least for this week's series against the Twins. Suzuki, for his own part, is out of the lineup Monday night, with neck soreness. Whenever Bellinger is back to full strength, though, he's the logical choice to play right field, with Suzuki and his formidable bat sliding to DH on as permanent a basis as everyone's health permits.

The last time the team was even in position to kick around these considerations, Christopher Morel was still a complicating factor. Playing either Bellinger or Suzuki at DH meant leaving Morel at third base, where his defense was untenable. The injury to Bellinger temporarily solved that problem for them, in a bad way. Then, the Morel-for-Isaac Paredes trade permanently addressed it, in a positive way. With Paredes locked in at third base, the DH spot is wide open for Suzuki, and Bellinger can settle in as a right fielder, where he's less likely to get hurt than in center and a superior defensive option to Suzuki. 

On Monday night, Mike Tauchman takes Suzuki's place in the outfield. Tauchman, too, is a better defender than Suzuki, but he's purely a stopgap solution. As soon as Tuesday night, we could see Suzuki back in right field. With Bellinger's digits healing, though, the countdown to the end of Suzuki's tenure in that spot should very much be on.

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[Matt W]

Matt, how do you feel about Busch’s underlying batted-ball data? How do you see things trending over next couple seasons?