Cody Bellinger opts in for another season with Cubs

Outfielder Cody Bellinger has decided to stay with the Cubs, opting in for another season, sources confirmed Saturday.

The decision wasn’t obvious at the end of the season, the first of the three-year, $80 million deal with two opt-outs that Bellinger signed in February. By opting in, he’s set to make $27.5 million in 2025.

‘‘When we signed that deal in late February, we knew that if he had a good year he would have a lot of options,’’ Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at his end-of-season news conference last month. ‘‘And he had a good year, and so I think he’ll have options.’’

Bellinger made it clear in late September that he would wait until after the season to mull the decision with his wife and dig into his options with his agent Scott Boras.

Going through free agency last offseason, when he was coming off a National League Comeback Player of the Year performance on a one-year deal with the Cubs, helped Bellinger think through his priorities, he said.

‘‘Definitely have more of an understanding, even this year,’’ Bellinger said as the season wound down. ‘‘Honestly, it’s in the back of my mind, but I truly haven’t really thought about what I want to do until the season’s over and I have time to sit down and really weigh things and, obviously, talk with Scott.’’

Bellinger’s raw offensive numbers in 2024 didn’t jump off the page the way they did a year ago, but he still had a case for a lucrative long-term contract. Even Hoyer outlined some potential talking points.

‘‘When you look at the totality of the year he had,’’ Hoyer said, ‘‘he had a roughly .800 OPS on the road. His home OPS was .200 points lower than last year, and that’s kind of how Wrigley played. So I expect him to have a lot of options.’’

Bellinger, 29, had a .797 OPS on the road, to be exact. To put that into context, if he had replicated that kind of production at home, his OPS would have landed him 12th in the majors among qualified outfielders, between the Orioles’ Anthony Santander (.814) and the Guardians’ Steven Kwan (.793).

He posted a .700 OPS in 2024 at Wrigley Field, down from .902 in 2023. Though several factors likely played into that dip, Hoyer’s allusion to how the park ‘‘played’’ is backed up by Statcast’s park factor. In 2024, only T-Mobile Park in Seattle suppressed offense more than Wrigley. Last season, Wrigley played as the ninth-friendliest park to hitters.

Bellinger also played through pain to shorten his time on the injured list for broken ribs and a broken finger. And while he and Boras could have used those talking points in free agency, they are also reasons to believe Bellinger might put together a stronger season in 2025, with the option to hit free agency after next season.

Cubs decline option on Smyly

The Cubs declined their end of veteran left-hander Drew Smyly’s $10 million mutual option for 2025, the Sun-Times confirmed.

The move was somewhat of a formality. When the sides agreed to a two-year, $19 million deal after the 2022 season, the mutual option essentially served as a way to defer part of the total sum.

Smyly, 35, posted a 3.84 ERA in 50 appearances while pitching exclusively out of the bullpen for the first time since 2013.

The Cubs’ decision not to pick up his option means Smyly becomes a free agent, joining right-hander Kyle Hendricks and reliever Jorge Lopez, who officially hit free agency at the end of the World Series.

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