Cody Bellinger & Starlin Castro: Comparing Two Yankees-Cubs Trades, A Decade Apart

[Brandon Glick]

Cody Bellinger is with the Yankees now, and the Cubs’ decision to salary dump him is ominously similar to their handling of Starlin Castro one decade ago.

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / © Dennis Wierzbicki-Imagn Images

The Cubs’ outfield has received a makeover this offseason, notably highlighted by the Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger trades. While they paid a fair price for the former, it’s very easy to question the return they got for the latter — reliever Cody Poteet and salary relief — given that Bellinger finished tenth in NL MVP voting just one year ago. Some have argued that the Cubs made the right move prioritizing financial flexibility in the Bellinger trade (and correctly noted that other factors, including playing time limitations, played a factor in the deal). In contrast, others (including myself) have lambasted the Cubs for not getting a better return by flexing their monetary muscles and eating more of Bellinger’s deal.

Regardless of what side of the aisle you come down on, the Bellinger trade is astonishingly similar to the Starlin Castro trade from nine years back. At that time, the Cubs were coming off a shocking 2015 season in which they beat multiple division rivals and advanced to the NLCS. They doubled down on their core in the offseason, adding Jason Heyward and John Lackey (among others) to supplement a championship roster. However, one of the most notable transactions they completed was a subtraction, as they shipped Castro off to New York in return for reliever Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan.

Castro was tasked with playing second base opposite Didi Gregorius, Derek Jeter’s replacement at shortstop, and performed admirably, racking up 3.2 WAR and 289 hits during his two-year tenure with the Yankees. The Cubs, meanwhile, received practically nothing from Warren (5.91 ERA/5.83 FIP in 35 innings) before they shipped him back to the Yankees at the 2016 trade deadline in the deal that brought Aroldis Chapman to Chicago. They also received nothing from Ryan, who didn’t play a single game in a Cubs uniform.

Of course, the Castro trade wasn’t made with the hopes that Warren would be the savior of the Cubs’ bullpen. Instead, Chicago executed that deal to open up second base and salary for their eventual signing of Ben Zobrist, as well as some extra playing time for Javier Baez at the keystone position. In that sense, the deal worked out magnificently, as Baez won co-NLCS MVP with Jon Lester, and Zobrist went on to win the most important World Series MVP of all time thanks to his clutch hit in the tenth inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

Before we start daydreaming about the Cubs’ utilizing some of their newfound funds on the eventual 2025 World Series MVP, it’s important to note that Poteet isn’t a zero. He has plenty of starting pitching experience and usually sees an uptick in his stuff and results after moving to the bullpen. The odds that he blows up and gets traded back to the Yankees at the 2025 trade deadline are slim to none.

Likewise, the Cubs have already found their Bellinger replacement: Kyle Tucker. The former Houston Astro will be the everyday right fielder in Chicago this upcoming season, and there’s not much more room in the outfield with Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Seiya Suzuki all in the mix, too. If the team allocates those funds elsewhere, it’ll almost certainly be for a starting pitcher.

I still submit that the best use of that money would have been to eat more of Bellinger’s contract to coax a better return out of the Yankees, but that’s water under the bridge at this point. All the front office can do from here is capitalize on a deep roster that finally has some superstar power. Salary dumping fan-favorite players with All-Star pedigree on the New York Yankees to acquire a middling reliever and open up a spot for a new star isn’t exactly what I’d consider to be a favorite pastime of mine. Still, the Cubs clearly have an affinity for it.

Let’s just hope it works out as well as last time.

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[Victor Reichman]

Pitifully low return for Cody. Many teams were looking for a 1B and OF help, esp. a left handed bat. We got a 30 yr old reliever with a fair minor league record and I believe 5 games in MLB that went well. Last yr. Cody only played 130 games and was injured. His prior year was outstanding. He hits LHP as well as RHP and is a plus defender in OF and 1B.  A trade with Seattle for 1 of their SPs, even if we had to pay a little more was the best option.

 

 

 

 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

20 hours ago, Victor Reichman said:

Pitifully low return for Cody. Many teams were looking for a 1B and OF help, esp. a left handed bat. We got a 30 yr old reliever with a fair minor league record and I believe 5 games in MLB that went well. Last yr. Cody only played 130 games and was injured. His prior year was outstanding. He hits LHP as well as RHP and is a plus defender in OF and 1B.  A trade with Seattle for 1 of their SPs, even if we had to pay a little more was the best option.

Welcome to NSBB (sorry for the delay in approving your post, holidays and whatnot).

[Rcal10]

On 12/27/2024 at 12:24 PM, Victor Reichman said:

Pitifully low return for Cody. Many teams were looking for a 1B and OF help, esp. a left handed bat. We got a 30 yr old reliever with a fair minor league record and I believe 5 games in MLB that went well. Last yr. Cody only played 130 games and was injured. His prior year was outstanding. He hits LHP as well as RHP and is a plus defender in OF and 1B.  A trade with Seattle for 1 of their SPs, even if we had to pay a little more was the best option.

 

 

 

 

 

The only pitcher they could have gotten from Seattle would have even Castillo. And even then the Cubs would have to eat some of his salary. And, honestly I don’t think the Mariners were interested in Cody. Considering most fans hoped he opted out I am not sure why you think they should have gotten much more. Had he opted out and they got the Yankees pitcher for a straight cash deal giving them $5M would that have been a bad deal? Same end result as they have now. You are overvaluing Cody’s trade value if you think they should have gotten more. 

[CubinNY]

Most fans

[Rcal10]

4 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Most fans

Yep, most fans. The ones that continue to expect the Cubs to spend money they will not spend are the exception.