Cody Bellinger has a National League MVP on his resume, played at a high level last season and is just 28 years old, which made it notable when he agreed to a relatively team-friendly three-year, $80 million deal with the Chicago Cubs this offseason.
The contract features opt outs after each of the first two years.
"There are variables," Bellinger's agent, Scott Boras, said, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN. "We have some irregularity going on in this current market. We have close to 11 teams that are spending less money than they did a year go .