Cubs Week In Review: Hoerner Hurt, Undergoes Surgery, A Pair of Coveted Minor Leaguers Earn Honors, Bellinger Mulls Opt-out

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For some time now, we've been told of the highly-touted stable of talent in the Cubs' minor league farm system. While this week proved this full stop, it also placed a gargantuan obstacle in the way of the squad's infield stability as former Gold Glove winner Nico Hoerner injured his right forearm flexor tendon. Off the heels of his surgery to repair the tendon, there is no set timetable for the Cubs' veteran second baseman's return. If this weren't enough, multiple sources reported this week that Chicago's star outfielder, Cody Bellinger, is strongly contemplating opting out of his contract with the Cubs to test the free agent waters yet again. All in all, this past week provided much more action than was anticipated in the lead-up to Halloween. Let's dive in to see how it all went down. 

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Cubs' President of Baseball Operations, Jed Hoyer, can be frustrating, off-putting, and certainly unrelatable. But one thing he is not: dumb. Whether you listened to him throughout the 2024 season on 670 The Score or digested his press clippings on this very esteemed website, Jed Hoyer insists that the team's internal pipeline has what it takes to yield championship success on the North Side of Chicago for years to come: maybe he's right. This past week, young Cubs catcher Moises Ballesteros earned the honor of Minor League Player of the Year. Splitting time between Tennessee and Iowa in 2024, the 20-year-old Ballesteros notched a .289 batting average and drove in 78 RBI, including 19 homers. Despite a late-season breakthrough from Miguel Amaya, the Cubs sorely lack power at the catcher position. Though his talent is still raw and his full potential unknown, Ballesteros may provide long-term answers sooner than you think. 

In other good news, the Cubbies' mostly-decent pitching situation figures to get even better as righty Brandon Birdsell was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Birdsell turned a sub-four ERA of 3.91, recorded 135.2 innings pitched, and walked a mere 5.4% of the batters he faced in 2024. In July, the 24-year-old was called up from the Double-A Tennessee Smokies to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. Though his repertoire of pitches needs work, especially in the off-speed department, he is forecasted to be a solid starter in the backend of the rotation. With the impending departure of Kyle Hendricks and the jury still out on guys like Javier Assad, this would be a boon for the North Siders.

To reference the great 2010 rock band Modest Mouse, Here's some good news for people who like bad news: Nico Hoerner is injured with no guarantee he'll be ready at the start of the 2025 campaign. As reported by MLB insider Bruce Levine and other sources this past week, one of the Cubs' leaders in theft, totaling a career-high 31 stolen bases, Hoerner, underwent surgery to repair his right flexor tendon. Hoerner is a defensive staple in the Cubs' close-to-elite middle infield. If he is to encounter any setbacks in his offseason recovery, his loss would create a seismic ripple in the club's early-season chances—something to keep an eye on. 

The Cubs' "big question" in the 2023 offseason was: Will Cody Bellinger re-sign with the team? Despite clocking in a 2024 season that was barely a shadow of what the lefty achieved in 2023, it appears that Bellinger will once again kick the free agency tires when it opens up in just over a week. Anecdotally, he shouldn't. The Cubs' utility superstar is set to earn a staggering $27.5 million from Tom Ricketts' team in 2025. That he'd earn anything close to those numbers elsewhere is a stretch, to say the least. He'd be wise to stay. 

Life-long Cubs fan Eddie Vedder wrote a pre-2016 song called "All The Way," pining for his beloved squad's eventual World Series-winning ecstasy. As the globe watches the heavyweight prize fight between the Yankees and Dodgers, it feels like we're back in those times: clinging to hope and left with not much else to do but wait until next year. 

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