Cubs begin spring training with Cody Bellinger as the free agent still looming over everything

MESA, Ariz. — The Chicago Cubs are back. Cody Bellinger is not, at least not yet and maybe never again. This looked like the normal postcard from the Sloan Park training complex with Kyle Hendricks playing catch, Dansby Swanson doing infield drills and Shota Imanaga signing autographs. But it can’t truly feel like spring training when the offseason isn’t really over.

“There’s definitely a lot up in the air,” Nico Hoerner said Tuesday, “for us and a lot of teams in baseball right now with the amount of talent that’s still out there.”

There were no TV crews surrounding Hoerner when he chatted with a small group of reporters. Maybe a dozen fans gathered in the gated area near Field 1 to watch practice. Cubs officials traditionally hold a news conference on the day pitchers and catchers officially report to major-league camp, but that will instead take place Wednesday around the first formal workout for pitchers and catchers. The table in the media room was set up with three microphones with Marquee Sports Network flags for Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, general manager Carter Hawkins and new manager Craig Counsell.

We already saw a version of this at last month’s Cubs Convention, where chairman Tom Ricketts stood on stage as fans chanted “CO-DY! CO-DY! CO-DY!” The crowd inside the Sheraton hotel ballroom erupted when Swanson declared: “We got to re-sign Belli.” Scott Boras represents other free agents who could make sense for the Cubs on some level — such as Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery — but Bellinger is the headliner here.

“I’m definitely giving him his space,” Hoerner said. “I just hope that his process is what he wants and he gets what he deserves. He’s been everything you could ask for from a teammate. When you talk about showing up early, from New Year’s on (last year), he was just so consistent with his work. It was just really satisfying to see a good person earn such a great spot for themselves. Obviously, we would love to have him here. That would be amazing.”

After signing his one-year, $17.5 million “pillow” contract, Bellinger became a fixture at the team’s Arizona facility, training near his offseason home and working with trusted coaches. Bellinger’s production during his Comeback Player of the Year campaign was worth $32.9 million, according to FanGraphs’ dollars metric. Bellinger’s expected stats and batted-ball data — combined with the freak injuries and sharp downturn he experienced earlier in his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers — suggest the potential for regression.

Those factors along with a patient, skilled negotiator in Boras, have left Bellinger without a team in the middle of February. Ricketts is not the type of owner who engages with Boras and wants to play GM. Even if Hoyer closes a deal to re-sign Bellinger, the Cubs will need more players to step forward.

Getting months of Bellinger again performing at an MVP level still wasn’t enough for the Cubs to qualify for the playoffs as the sixth-best team in the National League. Hoerner is a good example of organizational patience paying off and a player running with an opportunity.

Hoerner moved off shortstop to accommodate Swanson and turned himself into a Gold Glove second baseman. Hoerner took advantage of the new rules to become the first Cubs second baseman since Ryne Sandberg to reach 43 stolen bases, 175 hits, 98 runs and 68 RBIs. Hoerner will turn 27 in May, meaning he should be in the middle of the prime years of his career.

“We have a lot of opportunities to improve from within,” Hoerner said. “That includes a lot of us that were out there a lot last year. I feel a lot of us had solid seasons last year, but a lot of us feel like we have more that we can improve on. It’s a group that definitely has a very high standard.”

For now, the Cubs appear to be betting that first baseman Michael Busch and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong will learn fast at the major-league level. Starting this season at Double-A Tennessee or higher is the baseline for virtually all of the organization’s top prospects. The nucleus of the team — Hoerner, Swanson, Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ — is built around steady two-way players who could have those next-level seasons. The defense that looked frazzled, at times, during a late-season collapse should learn from that experience. The pitching staff — from Opening Day starter through however many it takes to get through a 162-game schedule — is deep and versatile.

But until the Cubs add Bellinger (or another high-profile Boras client), there will be questions about whether Hoyer’s front office and the Ricketts ownership group have done enough this winter.

“You always want the best version of your team that you can have,” Hoerner said. “As a group of players, we’re going to be confident and make the most of whatever that is. But anything that’s going to help us win is obviously going to be a good move.”

(Top photo of Bellinger: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)