Move over, KatyPerrysBootyHole and wetbutt23, we have a new surprising insider in the Chicago baseball scene. That would be Cubs’ fan @Lisa_L_Dubbs on Twitter/X, or more specifically, her unnamed friend. On Thursday, Lisa replied to an @obvious_shirts post about the Cubs’ first spring training game Friday with a question about why there was no online coverage of the team signing free agent center fielder Cody Bellinger, which she’d heard of through a friend at spring training:
I heard that they signed Bellinger just now from a good friend who’s in AZ right now, but can’t find anything online about it. Have you heard anything?
— Lisa (@Lisa_L_Dubbs) February 22, 2024
There was nothing online about that at that point because no one had yet reported it. And that prompted some skepticism. (And a funny reply from Lisa of the Homer Simpson backing into bushes GIF.) But, three days later, in the early hours of Sunday morning, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Cubs had indeed finalized a deal to bring Bellinger back:
Cody Bellinger's salary on his deal with the Chicago Cubs will pay him $30 million this season, $30 million in 2025 (if he doesn't opt out after Year 1) and $20 million in 2026 (if he doesn't opt out after Year 2).
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 25, 2024
And Passan followed that up with a funny acknowledgement of Lisa’s tweet from Thursday:
lisa was right
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 25, 2024
Some people got the reference:
Credit to you for acknowledging Lisa
— Cody Delmendo (@Cody_CHGO) February 25, 2024
Lisa’s friends were cooking
— Jordan Cicchelli 🤍 (@jordancicchelli) February 25, 2024
The MLB community to Lisa: pic.twitter.com/zMykAD2PP5
— Dean Ralsky (@DEANfense) February 25, 2024
But many did not:
Jeff Passan got hacked again
— Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_) February 25, 2024
Glad to see a woman getting credit for being right. I don’t know Lisa or what she was right about but well done.
— LeahSunshine (@LeahSunshineLA) February 25, 2024
Of course, this tweet coming Thursday doesn’t mean that the deal was actually done then. There may still have been details for the sides to finalize, which would explain why it wasn’t reported in a more conventional way until Sunday. (It is also possible that the deal was actually agreed to Thursday and the sides wanted to keep it quiet and unofficial until Sunday for some reason.)
But this is still interesting to see. And this definitely can happen; there are plenty of tidbits dropped by executives, agents, players and more that just happen to be overheard by those in the right place at the right time. And if those who hear it can get it out there themselves, or through their friends, that can even lead to a Jeff Passan acknowledgement.
And this adds to the list of MLB news put out there by unconventional insiders, from the aforementioned KatyPerrysBootyHole and wetbutt23 (Reddit users who broke the cross-Chicago Jose Quintana trade in 2017) to Marcus Stroman (who announced his signing with the Cubs in 2021 before any reporter could) to Braves’ fan Brian Chandler seeing Yasiel Puig outside an Atlanta hotel in July 2020 and connecting the dots. Now, @Lisa_L_Dubbs has joined those ranks. Congrats to Lisa and her friend on beating the world to the news of Bellinger’s return.
[Jeff Passan on Twitter]
