The Chicago Cubs might not have been super active in the free agent market, but made a slew of trades. Most of them, like when they acquired Kyle Tucker, Ryan Pressly, and Ryan Brasier, saw their team improve. There was one massive exception, though.
The Cubs decided to trade Cody Bellinger and all but $5 million of the $52.5 million left on the remaining two years of his deal to the New York Yankees, receiving Cody Poteet in return.
At the time of the deal, it felt as if the Cubs were doing nothing but shed salary by making this deal. Sure enough, just six games into their spring training schedule, Poteet was among a group of five players who were optioned to Triple-A Iowa. This roster decision made an already bad trade look even worse.
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Cody Poteet demotion proves Cody Bellinger trade was all about the money
Sure, it was easy to assume this was all about the money, but maybe the Cubs saw something that intrigued them about Poteet, a right-hander who had a 3.80 ERA in 24 appearances (13 starts) at the MLB level. He pitched with the Miami Marlins in 2021 and 2022, and made five appearances (four starts) for the Yankees in 2024. The fact that he was demoted this early into spring training when Poteet had just two appearances under his belt proves that was not the case. It really was all about owner Tom Ricketts not spending more money than he wanted to.
The trade would have looked much better had the Cubs reinvested the money they saved from Bellinger into a star player, but that didn't really happen. Chicago whiffed on its Alex Bregman and Tanner Scott pursuits and is still a little less than $40 million below the $241 million luxury tax threshold, according to Spotrac.
The Cubs would've almost certainly been able to acquire a better player than Poteet had they shown a willingness to eat more of the Bellinger money, especially with the Yankees reluctant to add to their payroll, but clearly, they did not want to do that.
Chicago's refusal to add to its payroll essentially gifted the Yankees a solid MLB player for virtually nothing. The way Bellinger played in 2024 was not close to what the Cubs had expected when they gave him that contract, and with Tucker's arrival, they did not need him, but he was still one of the better players on the team.
Sending Poteet down this early and not even giving him a chance to make the team, especially when Javier Assad is injured in their rotation and their bullpen is far from set, essentially confirmed that the Cubs traded Bellinger solely to clear as much of his money as they could. That outcome is good for Ricketts, but not ideal for the Cubs.