The Cubs announced that outfielder Cody Bellinger has a fracture in his left middle finger and has been placed on the 10-day injured list. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune was among those who relayed the news on X. Fellow outfielder Alexander Canario was recalled to take his spot on the active roster.
In Wednesday night’s game, Bellinger was hit on the hand by a pitch from left-hander Cionel Pérez. He departed the contest as he felt he couldn’t throw a ball, per Montemurro on X. Now it seems a fracture has been found, and he’ll need to miss some time.
Teams are generally more willing to put a player on the IL around the All-Star break, as it allows for an extended breather while perhaps only missing a handful of games. But if Bellinger has a broken bone, he would probably need an IL stint regardless, though the club hasn’t yet indicated how much time they expect him to miss.
Either way, it’s a rough development for the club. Bellinger isn’t quite hitting as much as he did last year, but his .269/.331/.410 batting line is still 9% better than the league average, according to wRC+. He’s also stolen five bases while playing competent center-field defense.
The Cubs are in a tight spot, currently 44-49. That only leaves them 3.5 games back in the crowded National League wild-card race but with several teams ahead of them. They are currently only ahead of the Rockies, Marlins, and Nationals, and they would have to leapfrog six other clubs to get into postseason positions. With the trade deadline now less than three weeks away, they will soon have to decide how aggressively to buy or sell or walk a fine line between the two.
Losing a player of Bellinger’s quality will make it more challenging to climb in the standings in the next few weeks. Bellinger himself has also been speculated as a potential trade candidate, though the opt-outs in his contract make that a complicated endeavor, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently explored in a piece for Front Office Subscribers. If there was any chance of the Cubs lining up something there, this injury may make it less likely.
The Cubs are now down two outfielders, with Mike Tauchman on the IL. They will have to proceed with a mix of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ, with Canario now in there. Canario has a stout batting line of .282/.333/.538 in his big league career. That’s come in a small sample of 42 plate appearances, but he also has a strong line of .238/.330/.502 in Triple-A this year.
For Bellinger, this may impact him personally. At the end of the year, he will have to trigger his opt-out or stick with the Cubs. He can take a $2.5M buyout or stick around and collect a $27.5M salary in 2025, with another $25M player option and a $5M buyout for the following year. Whether he wants another crack at free agency will naturally depend on the kind of platform he produces here in 2024, so he hopes to return in good form.
