When Cody Bellinger won the National League Rookie of the Year Award with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017, he did so largely on the strength of two attributes: a powerful swing that routinely sent balls soaring into the right-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium, and the ability to play first base and all three outfield positions well.

Bellinger’s swing has undergone countless changes since. The ambiguity of his plate profile is largely why the Dodgers chose not to tender him a contract after a 2022 season in which he hit .210 with 19 home runs. Injuries had sapped his power, but there had to be more in that swing. There had to be.

The Cubs wisely took a gamble on Bellinger, and he rewarded them with a 26-homer season in 2023. Bellinger also hit .307, stole 20 bases, and played a capable center field when he wasn’t manning first base, perhaps his best position on the field.

An odd thing happened next. Bellinger regressed. Just as Wrigley Field can morph from a pitcher’s park to a hitter’s park depending on the time of day or the notoriously unpredictable Chicago weather, it turned on Bellinger.

Last season, Bellinger slugged an impotent .399 at home with just eight home runs in 65 games. On the road, he was no worse than good, a .282/.347/.451 hitter who seemed to enjoy hitting anywhere but Chicago.

Next season, Bellinger will get his wish.

Days after the Cubs acquired outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, they unloaded Bellinger and his $27.5 million salary to the New York Yankees. In return, the Cubs get $5 million and Cody Poteet, a pitcher who’s shown fewer flashes of success at the major league level than one would like from a 30-year-old.

For the Cubs it’s a sensible salary dump, as salary dumps go. With another down year in 2025, Bellinger could opt into another season under contract at $25 million in 2026. One can understand why president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer might not want to assume that risk if another team is willing to take Bellinger off his hands.

At the same time, the move begs another move. Why acquire Tucker, sign pitcherMatthew Boyd and potentially acquire another left-hander via trade, if only to save money when the NL Central division looks more winnable than it has in years? It’s hard to grade this trade from Chicago’s end without seeing what else Hoyer has in store.

There could be a tinge of disappointment for the Yankees, too. Bellinger’s swing should play best at Yankee Stadium, where the right-field porch requires less power than his to poke a home run or 40 out of the park.

This assumes, however, that the Yankees get the same Bellinger the Cubs saw in 2023, and on the road in 2024. Pinning him down as a hitter in two consecutive years has been the essential challenge of his career. He will, if nothing else, make the Yankees a more dangerous team defensively and on the basepaths — arguably just as important as the bat.

The real winner in the trade is Bellinger, who goes to a team that just reached the World Series and appears hellbunt on avenging the loss of Juan Soto to the team across town. Bellinger’s father, Clay, won a World Series ring with the Yankees in 2000. Surely his son would love nothing more than to do the same.

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