CHICAGO -- Cody Bellinger authored one of baseball’s best comeback stories of the 2023 season with the Cubs. Now the star center fielder plans on seeing where that can take him in free agency in the coming months.

On Friday night, the Cubs announced that Bellinger declined his mutual option for 2024, making him one of the most intriguing and impactful bats on the open market this offseason. That was the expected outcome for Bellinger, who made the most of the one-year guaranteed pact he inked with Chicago last winter.

“We'd love to bring him back. We'll have a lot of conversations with him,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at the end of the season. “Obviously, it's going to play out for a while.”

The Cubs also declined a $5 million option for veteran righty Brad Boxberger on Friday, electing instead to pay an $800,000 buyout after the reliever’s injury-marred season. In Bellinger’s case, his mutual option was worth $25 million for 2024, but the outfielder is on the cusp of a big multiyear payday as a free agent.

The next step for the Cubs arrives on Monday, when teams must decide whether to extend a one-year qualifying offer (set at $20.325 million) to eligible free agents. Expect Chicago to do so with Bellinger, ensuring that the Cubs receive a Draft pick as compensation in the event that the outfielder signs elsewhere.

From there, the Cubs will maintain contact with Bellinger’s camp while also sorting through alternatives for center field and first base this offseason. Chicago will be aiming to build off a 2023 tour in which the ballclub fell just short of the postseason, and keeping Bellinger would undoubtedly help that process.

“We'd love to have him back,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said on the final day of the season. “That's something that will be up to the baseball guys and the financial markets.”

Last winter, the Cubs reeled in Bellinger on a one-year contract worth $17.5 million following the Dodgers’ decision to non-tender him. That came after Bellinger posted a .648 OPS across the 2020-22 seasons amid a variety of injury setbacks.

This season, Bellinger thrived under the change of scenery, hitting .307 with 26 homers, 29 doubles, 97 RBIs, 95 runs, 20 steals and an .881 OPS in 130 games with Chicago. The 28-year-old missed time in the middle of the summer due to a left knee injury, but he was otherwise a constant threat in the heart of the Cubs’ order while moving between center field and first base.

That showing was closer to the level of Bellinger’s play across 2017-19, when he posted a .928 OPS overall while winning National League Rookie of the Year ('17) and MVP (‘19) accolades with Los Angeles. His production with Chicago earned Bellinger the NL Comeback Player of the Year honor in this year's Players Choice Awards.

“Obviously, there’s no prediction of the future in anything,” Bellinger said at the end of the season, referring to his free-agent situation. “I really just enjoyed my time with this group of guys, with this coaching staff, playing for the Cubs' organization. Wrigley Field was special.”

The Cubs are hoping Bellinger’s time in Chicago can help in the negotiation process.

“You're always trying to sell free agents on what it's like to play in Chicago,” Hoyer said. “There's nothing better than having a guy experience it for a year and openly say he loves it.”