It Feels Like This is the Crucial Piece of Info We've Been Missing All Along About Cubs Offseason

If we're being honest, it didn't make that much sense for the Cubs to take an interest in trading Cody Bellinger this winter. Sure, you could squint and see it, if they really wanted a major shakeup of their positional corps and/or if they believe they need a major infusion of pitching talent but need to stay budget-neutral. On balance, though, it's a confusing reality to which we've all been reconciling ourselves since Bellinger opted in to his deal after the World Series.

It seems like Bellinger playing right field, with Seiya Suzuki at DH, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center and Ian Happ in left, was a really nice configuration. We even saw Suzuki find a gorgeous rhythm as the everyday DH down the stretch in 2024, batting .326/.433/.500 in 37 games and 171 plate appearances to finish the season after moving into that role. It's harder than a casual baseball fan might guess to find guys who can thrive as the DH. Suzuki, who was a disastrously bad right fielder beginning in early 2023, made the transition seamlessly, and it seemed like all parties should be fairly comfortable with keeping that good thing going.

Now, we can all understand what was happening, and why the team has seemed so unsure of what to do for the last month.

Ohhh. If Suzuki didn't like being a DH, it's a lot easier to see why some alternative arrangements would need to be explored.

If it was difficult to grasp why the Cubs would want to trade Bellinger under our old understanding of the situation, their recently reported openness to trading Suzuki (and specifically, the idea that they were dead-set on trading one or the other) was downright inscrutable. If one tossed out the idea that they were just being extraordinarily cheap, it was inexplicable. Now, it's extremely explicable.

A situation in which Suzuki is unwilling to be the everyday DH is a totally different set of problems than we thought Jed Hoyer was trying to solve. His bat was more than good enough, for the bulk of last season, to write him in at that spot and bring him back, shopping only for the player who might allow him to be clearly second-best in the lineup, rather than its anchor. However, if he feels he has to play the outfield (and, although his agent does not explicitly suggest this to be the case in the above, if he wants out unless he can be given that chance), then the Cubs have to do something big.

Trading Bellinger is one solution, because then, Suzuki goes back to right field. Clearing the money owed to Bellinger gets important in a hurry if you think the Cubs have to replace his bat with a DH like Pete Alonso, Anthony Santander, or J.D. Martinez, in addition to spending young talent on further help for the starting rotation. Before that could happen, though, you'd think the Cubs would want some concrete reason to believe that he'll be better there than he was for the last year and a half he spent in that position.

Moving Suzuki to left is not an option. Ian Happ has a no-trade clause he's much less likely to waive, and too much of his value comes from his superb defense to obliterate that value by sliding him to DH, all the while risking a big downgrade if the sun of right field turns out not to have been Suzuki's problem. 

That leaves the possibility of trading Suzuki himself. In light of this new information about his preferences (which sure sound strong), that feels much more plausible than it did a few days ago. Certainly, the team can't keep both Bellinger and Suzuki if the latter is unwilling to be the regular DH from here on out. Suzuki would have more trade value, of course, because he's a better hitter and is on a less expensive, less player-friendly contract. However, he'd also leave a bigger hole in the lineup and force you to do something bigger to replace him. It's a big dilemma, and now, we can well understand why the team has proceeded cautiously all along.

This is bad news, I think, because the best version of the 2025 Cubs I foresaw before learning this had Suzuki as the DH almost all the time. Now, it seems like multiple major moves need to be made to get to a version that matches or betters that one. Still, it's enlightening, and thus something of a relief. Why have the Cubs acted a little weird all winter? This is why. And this could explain some of the really exciting possibilities being floated through the rumor mill, as neatly as it explains the more maddening notes.