Bellinger was definitely a salary dump. They essentially exchanged Bellinger for Tucker, which I think is a huge upgrade for the Cubs. Tucker is a perrenial all star and legit MVP candidate.
It also frees up a big chunk of money to spend elsewhere. They could now go after Bregman, Burnes, Rosaki, etc….whatever they want. They are currently $60M under the CBT line so they will make more big moves and will be the clear favorite to win the NLC in my opinion.