Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Cubs Rumors

Cubs Not Expected To Pursue Top Free Agent Relievers

By | at

The Cubs are going to need to overhaul their bullpen this winter after trading Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles yesterday while Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and Caleb Thielbar are all ticketed for free agency. Despite those four departures draining their entire high-leverage relief mix outside of Daniel Palencia, however, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports that Chicago’s front office is not expected to be involved in the markets of this winter’s top free agent relief arms.

That’s not especially surprising, as the Cubs have generally eschewed high-dollar multi-year deals for relievers over the years. There have been some rare exceptions to that rule, such as the three-year deal the Cubs signed Craig Kimbrel to in 2019 while Theo Epstein was in charge and the team’s pursuit of southpaw Tanner Scott in free agency under Jed Hoyer last offseason, but the Cubs have long preferred to build their bullpen on a budget. That includes last year’s group. Keller was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, Pomeranz was acquired from the Mariners in a minor trade back in April, and Thielbar’s big league deal guaranteed him just $2.75MM total. Those three pitchers posted ERAs of 2.07, 2.17, and 2.64 respectively while combining for 177 1/3 innings across 192 appearances.

Sharma suggests that trying to find value on the margins of the market with minor league deals and reclamation projects figures to be the club’s goal once again this winter, though he does leave the door open for the possibility that the Cubs could jump into the market on a bigger name relief arm if their expected market doesn’t materialize and they linger into January and February. Otherwise, it seems as though the Cubs won’t be adding a top tier closer this winter. Sharma specifically names Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, and Devin Williams as players who aren’t likely to be in the cards for Chicago at this point.

That doesn’t mean they won’t add any veterans who can offer some more certainty towards the back of the bullpen, of course. Sharma notes that the club brought in Ryan Pressly via trade this past offseason in an effort to provide that sort of certainty. Pressly was on the last year of his deal, and it seems likely that if the Cubs do add a bullpen veteran on a notable deal, it would be a similar one-to-two year arrangement. That could come via either free agency or trade; perhaps the Rays would make Pete Fairbanks available on the trade market ahead of his final year under club control, or the team could try and pursue a one-year deal with a veteran closer like Kenley Jansen.

It’s possible the club could be banking on some internal improvements to their relief corps, as well. Any number of young arms might be able to take a step forward similar to the one Palencia made this past season, and with the Cubs seemingly likely to pursue starting pitching additions this winter, that could make converting a young rotation arm like Ben Brown into relief full-time a viable option. Brown is held back as a starter by a lack of a quality third pitch, but he did strike out 28.6% of his opponents with a 2.97 FIP after moving into a bullpen role to open the month of August. Porter Hodge and Luke Little are among the other arms in the club’s relief corps who have shown flashes of dominance at the big league level but have yet to put it all together consistently.

Orioles Acquire Andrew Kittredge From Cubs

By | at

The Orioles have reunited with Andrew Kittredge, as the team announced that the right-hander has been acquired from the Cubs in exchange for cash considerations.  While not mentioned in the Orioles’ press release, it can be assumed that the O’s will be exercising Kittredge’s $9MM club option for the 2026 season rather than swinging a trade for the reliever just to buy him out for $1MM.

Last January, Kittredge came to Baltimore for the first time when he signed a one-year deal worth $10MM in guaranteed money — a $9MM salary for 2025, and the $1MM in buyout money.  A debridement procedure in his left knee delayed Kittredge’s 2025 debut until late May, but he was in fine form afterwards, and he became an obvious trade candidate when the O’s fell out of contention.  The result was a deal to the Cubs at the trade deadline, with Baltimore netting infield prospect Wilfri De La Cruz in return.

Kittredge’s overall numbers were even better in Chicago after the trade, and he made five appearances for the Cubs in the postseason.  For 2025 as a whole, Kittredge posted a 3.40 ERA and a superb set of advanced metrics.  His 30.8% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate each sat in the 92nd percentile of all pitchers, his 49.2% grounder rate was far above average, and his 41.6% chase rate was the best of any pitcher in baseball.

Today’s trade means that the Orioles have now gotten Kittredge and De La Cruz in their organization, plus they saved roughly $2.8MM in salary when the Cubs took on the remainder of Kittredge’s 2025 salary.  Had everything gone to plan for Baltimore this season, the team surely had an eye towards exercising Kittredge’s club option anyway, so they’ll now get to make that decision after all and address a bullpen need.

Felix Bautista will miss most or all of the 2026 season recovering from shoulder surgery, plus Kittredge was one of several relievers dealt away by the Orioles at the deadline.  Even with Kittredge’s contributions, Baltimore’s bullpen was one of the weakest in the league in 2025, and rebuilding the relief core seems to be one of the club’s top priorities this offseason.

From the Cubs’ perspective, passing the buck (literally and figuratively) on Kittredge’s club option seems like an unusual move.  While Kittredge is entering his age-36 season and Chicago has traditionally been wary about overspending on relief pitching, $9MM seems like a fairly safe investment given how well Kittredge performed in 2025.  The Wrigleyville bullpen was quite solid this year, yet since many names from that group are free agents, exercising Kittredge’s club option would’ve been a way for the Cubs to partially solidify things early in the winter.

Since Shota Imanaga’s three-year club option was also declined by the Cubs earlier today, quite a bit of projected money has now been cleared off the team’s books between Imanaga and Kittredge.  As per RosterResource, Chicago has an estimated 2026 payroll of roughly $148.3MM and a luxury tax number of $164MM — well below their $206.4MM payroll and $227.3MM tax figure from 2025.  While Wrigleyville fans have a right to be concerned over how much ownership is willing to spend, this situation could mean that the Cubs are making room for a bigger-ticket acquisition or two this offseason.

Shota Imanaga Becomes Free Agent

By | at

Left-hander Shota Imanaga has become a free agent, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The Cubs declined their three-year, $57MM club option on Imanaga’s services for 2026-28, and Imanaga subsequently declined his $15MM player option for 2026.

It’s an outcome that would’ve seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. Signed out of Japan to a deal that was on paper a four-year, $53MM contract during the 2023-24 offseason that had the aforementioned complex option structure set to kick in after the 2025 campaign, Imanaga was nothing short of sensational for Chicago in his first year as an MLB pitcher last year. In 29 starts, he pitched to a 2.91 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate across 173 1/3 innings of work that earned him an All-Star appearance and a fifth-place finish in NL Cy Young award voting last year.

While that strong rookie campaign seemed to portend a long stay near the front of Chicago’s rotation for Imanaga, things started to unravel this year. Early in the season, he managed to get strong results despite shoddy peripherals, with a 2.82 ERA through eight starts despite a 4.59 FIP and a strikeout rate that had plummeted to just 18.8%. His season was abruptly put on hold by a hamstring injury that cost him nearly two months, and when he returned his strikeout rate continued to dip. He did manage to fire off seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts during his first start after the All-Star break, but from there he began a downward spiral where his results started to match his lackluster peripherals.

From July 25 through the end of the season, Imanaga made 12 starts where he surrendered a 5.17 ERA with a 5.42 FIP across 69 2/3 innings of work. His strikeout rate actually recovered a bit during this stretch, creeping back up to 23.2%, but he allowed an eye-popping 20 home runs in that stretch. Imanaga has always had trouble with the long ball, and even in his excellent 2024 campaign he allowed the tenth-most homers among qualified starters. This year, his 31 homers allowed were the fourth-most in all of baseball despite him pitching just 144 2/3 frames. That’s fewer innings than anyone else in the top 20 besides Tyler Anderson, who allowed 28 homers in 136 1/3 innings of work.

In spite of his lackluster season, a poll of MLBTR readers on September 10 suggested that more than 91% believed the Cubs should exercise his club option. From that point onward, what seemed at the time like a borderline call became more clear as he posted an 8.04 ERA in his final three regular season starts before posting an 8.10 ERA in the postseason and ultimately being passed over for a winner-take-all Game 5 start against the Brewers in the ALDS despite him being on regular rest. By that time, this outcome seemed far more likely. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes took a guess at Imanaga’s future in our Offseason Outlook coverage of the Cubs on October 22, and settled on the sides both declining their options and Imanaga heading into free agency.

From the Cubs’ perspective, moving on from Imanaga is understandable for a handful of reasons. By picking up his option, the Cubs would be counting on Imanaga to rebound into at least mid-rotation form for his age-32, -33, and -34 seasons. That might not seem like a bad bet to make, but it’s worth noting that Wrigley Field is notoriously fickle in terms of park factors thanks to the wind. In 2024, when Imanaga was at his best with the Cubs, Wrigley suppressed home runs at the fifth-highest rate in all of baseball according to Statcast. This year, that inverted to make the Friendly Confines the 11th-friendliest ballpark in baseball to home run hitters.

Perhaps Imanaga will be able to return to form elsewhere, particularly if he signs in a park with more consistent homer-suppressing tendencies, but it’s not hard to see why the Cubs wouldn’t want to commit to him long-term given that reality. That doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that he’ll return to the Cubs at all; Rogers reports that it’s not yet clear if Chicago intends to extend Imanaga the qualifying offer. Recouping draft pick compensation for Imanaga if he departs would surely be attractive to the Cubs, and him accepting the QO may be preferable to having kept him on a three-year deal at a lower annual cost due to the short-term nature of the arrangement. With that said, the market has plenty of mid-rotation or better starters available this winter, and the Cubs might prefer to not risk Imanaga accepting the offer so they can reallocate those dollars to a starter they feel better fits their roster.

Yoervis Medina Passes Away

By | at

Former major league pitcher Yoervis Medina has passed away. Reports out of his native Venezuela indicate that authorities believe Medina suffered a heart attack while he was driving, leading to a fatal car accident. He was 37 years old.

Medina pitched for the Mariners and Cubs from 2013-15, working 146 innings across an identical number of games. He posted a 3.08 career ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate along with a 12.4% walk rate. Most of his success came in his first two seasons, as Medina pitched to a 2.81 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate in 125 innings for the Mariners from 2013-14. In that span, he ranked 34th out of 109 qualified relievers in ERA and ranked 21st with a 53.5% ground ball rate.

He was traded to the Cubs in May 2015 for Welington Castillo and pitched in five games for them with a 7.00 ERA, but he wound up spending most of the season in the minors. That was followed by brief stints in the Pirates and Phillies organizations in 2016, neither of which resulted in a big league call. Medina then pitched in the Venezuelan winter league from 2016-20 before moving to the Italian Baseball League in 2023 and the Czech Baseball Extraliga in 2024.

Medina was teammates in Seattle with Jesús Montero, who was tragically killed in a motorcycle crash earlier this month. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Medina’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

AL East Notes: Story, Flaherty, Lowe, Fairbanks

By | at

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam touched on an assortment of Red Sox topics in the latest edition of their Fenway Rundown podcast, including a brief mention of Trevor Story’s status as the shortstop considers an opt-out clause in his contract.  Cotillo believes “the Red Sox are pretty cautiously very optimistic that” Story will be staying with the team, and while’s plenty of grey area within that statement, it does offer some indication that Story is leaning towards declining his opt-out.

Story is owed $25MM in each of the next two seasons, plus there’s a $5MM buyout on his $25MM club option for the 2028 campaign.  The Red Sox can override Story’s opt-out by guaranteeing that 2028 club option right now, but that doesn’t appear to be on the team’s radar, so the ball looks to be entirely in Story’s court.  While Story’s .263/.308/.433 slash line and 25 homers over 654 plate appearances only translates to a 101 wRC+, his numbers were weighed down by a cold start to the season, as Story posted an .825 OPS over his final 429 PA.

Between this strong finish and a thin free agent shortstop market, there’s a case for Story to leave his $55MM guaranteed on the table and look for a bigger contract this winter.  On the flip side, Story turns 33 next month, his defensive metrics were subpar, and the injury problems that plagued him in 2022-24 will be on the minds of front offices even though Story stayed pretty healthy in 2025.  If Story wants to avoid the risks of another prolonged stint in free agency, staying in Boston with a contending Red Sox team certainly seems like a viable choice.

More from around the AL East…

  • Earlier this month, Jon Heyman of the New York Post floated Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty as a logical candidate to be part of the Orioles’ managerial search.  MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports that Flaherty did indeed interview with the O’s about the position before the club opted to hire Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz.  Any number of other names might’ve been considered by the Orioles, but Flaherty joins Albert Pujols, Luis Rojas, and Scott Servais as the candidates directly linked to Baltimore’s search whether in formal interviews or (in Servais’ case) just some interest on the club’s part.  Flaherty’s six seasons as an Orioles player likely held some extra appeal for Baltimore’s front office, but his well-regarded work as a bench coach in Chicago and San Diego has put him in the running for multiple managerial vacancies.  Flaherty is reportedly one of the finalists for the Twins’ job, and he is a candidate for both the Padres and Braves in their ongoing searches.
  • The Rays hold a pair of club options on Brandon Lowe ($11.5MM) and Pete Fairbanks ($11MM) for the 2026 season, and both players have expressed a desire to remain in Tampa.  Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times explores the option decisions, noting that between the team’s offensive needs and how “the Rays typically view the bullpen as more changeable and volatile on a year-to-year basis,” Lowe seems more likely than Fairbanks to be part of the 2026 roster.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that Fairbanks’ option will be declined, however, as the Rays would then lose the closer for nothing in free agency.  Perhaps the most probable scenario is that Tampa Bay will pick up both options and then explore trade possibilities for either player — in Fairbanks’ case, his $11MM salary might not seem that onerous to some rival clubs in need of high-leverage bullpen help.

MLBTR Podcast: Bo Bichette’s Health, Kazuma Okamoto, And Dylan Cease’s Market

By | at

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Blue Jays were to extend Addison Barger, would the Lawrence Butler deal be a good comp? (40:35)
  • If a veteran signs a minor league deal, are they eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 draft? (44:50)
  • Will the Red Sox trade Jarren Duran? (46:25)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Phillies’ Outfield, Tarik Skubal, And Hiring College Coaches – listen here
  • Murakami To Be Posted This Offseason, Managerial Vacancies, And More! – listen here
  • Rockies’ Front Office Changes, Skip Schumaker, And ABS Talk – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images

Extension Candidate: Pete Crow-Armstrong

By | at

Few players captured more attention throughout the 2025 season than Pete Crow-Armstrong. The young center fielder seemed to launch himself into superstardom in the first half this year, with 20 doubles, 21 homers, and 25 steals through the end of June. That worked out to a .263/.299/.537 slash line, good for a 128 wRC+ with elite defense in center field that made him an early rival for Shohei Ohtani in this year’s MVP race. He followed up that brilliant performance with a far less exciting second half, as he slashed just .228/.274/.412 (86 wRC+) with 17 doubles, ten home runs, and ten steals from July 1 onward.

Crow-Armstrong’s second-half slump was enough to knock him far out of the MVP conversation, but his season-long numbers remain impressive. In 157 games, the 23-year-old hit .247/.287/.481 (109 wRC+) with 35 steals in 43 attempts and an MLB-best +24 Outs Above Average for his work in center field. All of that combined to be worth 6.0 bWAR and 5.4 fWAR, good for 11th and 15th respectively among qualified hitters this year. A five- or six-win season from a 23-year-old who entered the year with less than 150 games of big league experience is hard to view as anything other than an exciting success, and that’s how Jed Hoyer characterized it in his end-of-season press conference shortly after the Cubs’ season came to a close in Game 5 of the NLDS.

“In totality, he had a great year,” Hoyer said of Crow-Armstrong, as relayed by Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Hoyer went on to describe Crow-Armstrong as “the best defensive player in baseball” and noted that “when he’s hitting, he’s a superstar.”

All of that rings true based on his performance this season, and as the Cubs head into an offseason where Hoyer acknowledged they hope to have extension conversations with several players, Mooney writes that locking up the team’s star center fielder “figures to be the top priority.”

It won’t be the first time the Cubs and Crow-Armstrong talk about extending his stay in Chicago beyond his years of team control. The sides discussed an extension towards the beginning of the year, before his standout first half, and Crow-Armstrong passed on a deal that reportedly would’ve maxed out around $75MM with a guarantee in the $60MM-$70MM range. Crow-Armstrong, of course, rejected that offer, and while Hoyer expressed an openness to discussing an extension with the youngster’s camp during the season no further progress on the topic was reported throughout the year. Perhaps that’s not surprising, given the unusual year Crow-Armstrong just had.

If the Cubs do intend to reopen extension talks with their budding star, what could a sensible contract look like? After entering 2025 just barely short of a full year of MLB service time, Crow-Armstrong currently remains under control through the end of the 2030 season. At that point, he figures to be ticketed for free agency ahead of his age-29 campaign. A look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker offers a wide range of comparable players in recent years. Players like Ke’Bryan Hayes, Lawrence Butler, and Ezequiel Tovar had less than two years of MLB service when they signed their deals, like Crow-Armstrong. They all landed extensions in the $60MM to $70MM range that the Cubs reportedly offered prior to this season, but those deals were blown out of the water by the $134.2MM guarantee Jackson Merrill landed in his eight-year extension with the Padres back in April.

Merrill is a year younger than Crow-Armstrong, meaning he signed his deal at the start of his age-22 season while Crow-Armstrong would be signing ahead of his age-24 season this offseason. Both players had five seasons left under club control before free agency, however, and were coming off similarly elite platform seasons; Merril’s 130 wRC+ outshone Crow-Armstrong, but his lesser defense and baserunning left him with a roughly comparable 5.3 fWAR. They also play the same position, making Merrill’s recent deal a logical point of reference for Crow-Armstrong overall.

It’s the second-highest guarantee an outfielder with less than two seasons of MLB service time has received in MLB history, behind the $210MM guarantee the Mariners offered Julio Rodriguez that can max out at $470MM over 17 years if all incentives are reached and options are exercised. Given that Rodriguez was in the midst of posting a 148 wRC+ with 5.7 fWAR and 6.2 bWAR in just 132 games as a 21-year-old rookie when he signed his extension, it’s safe to expect that a deal for Crow-Armstrong would come in closer to Merrill’s contract.

A contract similar to the one signed by Merrill could make some sense, and an eight-year, $140MM contract would beat Merrill’s contract in terms of both guarantee and average annual value. However, the Cubs may not be interested in such a large guarantee for only three additional seasons of team control, while Crow-Armstrong may not want to head into free agency at the tail end of his physical prime as a player who derives as much value from speed and defense.

Then, perhaps, the sides could get together on a longer contract that would buy out more free agent years. An 11-year deal that runs through the 2036 season would keep Crow-Armstrong in town for the rest of his prime and buy out six free agent years. An 11-year, $187MM guarantee would narrowly eclipse Merrill by both guarantee and AAV, while also narrowly beating out the eight-year, $184MM contract the Cubs gave Jason Heyward during the 2015-16 offseason for the largest deal in franchise history.

It would be a risky investment given Crow-Armstrong’s lackluster plate discipline, which left him with the third-highest swinging-strike rate in the majors this year. Given that risk and the fact that Crow-Armstrong is not set to even reach arbitration until next winter, it would be understandable if the Cubs decided to wait and see how the 2026 season played out before committing that sort of money to their center fielder.

On the other hand, the upside in Crow-Armstrong’s profile is obvious and Chicago’s reluctance to spend at the top of the market on free agents in recent years could mean that waiting another year could put Crow-Armstrong out of Chicago’s price range entirely. Rolling the dice on an extension for Crow-Armstrong could be the team’s best bet of securing a long-term, star-caliber talent. Meanwhile, it would be understandable if Crow-Armstrong was motivated to lock in long-term financial security ahead of a 2026-27 offseason where a contentious round of collective bargaining over the sport’s economic future is widely expected.

Cubs Expected To Pursue Dylan Cease This Offseason

By | at

Free agency won’t officially begin until five days after the conclusion of the World Series, but teams are already well into the process of making their plans for the coming offseason. For many teams, that will include pursuits of some of the winter’s top free agent talent. While Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker is widely viewed as the top hitter headed into free agency this November, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reported a connection between Chicago and one of the winter’s top pitchers: right-hander Dylan Cease. Levine reports that the Cubs are viewed as a potential top suitor for Cease and that he will be pursued by the North Siders this winter.

Cease has significant ties both to the city of Chicago and the Cubs organization as a whole. Drafted by the Cubs in the sixth-round of the 2014 draft, Cease developed into a top-100 prospect in the Cubs organization before being traded alongside Eloy Jimenez in the crosstown deal that brought Jose Quintana to Chicago prior to the 2017 trade deadine. While neither Jimenez nor Quintana quite lived up to expectations during their stints with their new clubs, Cease turned into the sort of top-of-the-rotation arm the White Sox were surely dreaming of when they made the trade. He was the runner-up for the AL Cy Young award with the South Siders in 2022 in his age-26 season and was traded to the Padres just before the start of the 2024 campaign for a package headlined by top pitching prospect Drew Thorpe.

2024 saw Cease put together another ace-level campaign as he pitched to a 3.47 ERA in 33 starts while striking out 29.4% of his opponents. He finished fourth in NL Cy Young award voting and even garnered some down-ballot MVP consideration. That seemed to set up Cease up for a major payday in free agency as long as he could keep it up in 2025, but he stumbled this year with a rather pedestrian 4.55 ERA in 168 innings of work. Cease’s peripherals were a good deal better than his results suggested, but a tough 2025 season creates a pattern of inconsistency that might worry some suitors after a similarly pedestrian 2023.

Cease might lack the sort of year-to-year consistency many clubs look for when searching for an ace to carry their pitching staff, but it’s still easy to see why he would be attractive to teams. The right-hander has been one of the game’s most durable arms in recent years, and his peripherals have remained far more consistent than his actual results. He’s struck out at least 200 batters in five consecutive seasons with at least 32 starts and a 165 innings in each of those seasons. While his ERA has fluctuated between 2.20 and 4.58 across those five seasons, his FIP (between 3.10 and 3.72) and SIERA (between 3.46 and 4.10) have been far more stable. While Cease’s 3.72 ERA ranks 29th among starters with at least 500 innings of work since 2021, his FIP (12th), SIERA (22nd), and xERA (11th) all rank more favorably.

Perhaps most importantly for the Cubs specifically, Cease throws hard and racks up strikeouts. His strikeout rate ranks 3rd in that aforementioned group, behind only Blake Snell and Gerrit Cole. His fastball velocity, likewise, ranks third behind Cole and Sandy Alcantara in that same group. Cease actually threw harder than his career average this year with a 97.1 mph fastball velocity. That was good for sixth among qualified starters this season, and his strikeout rate trailed on Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet. For a Cubs rotation that had the third-lowest fastball velocity in the majors at just 93.1 and put together a pedestrian 20.5% strikeout rate, Cease would be the sort of power pitcher a generally soft-tossing Cubs rotation could really benefit from.

As good of a fit for the Cubs as Cease might seem to be on paper, that shouldn’t be taken to mean a deal is necessarily likely to get done. Cease will have plenty of suitors as one of the top starters on the market, and big spenders like the Mets are known to be in the market for rotation help this winter. Cease’s familiarity with the Cubs organization and the city of Chicago is unlikely to give the Cubs a significant leg up considering that Cease is a client of the Boras Corporation, and agent Scott Boras’s clients aren’t known for affording much of a hometown discount in free agency.

The Cubs haven’t spent at the top of the free agent market very often in recent years. Since signing Jon Lester and Jason Heyward in back-to-back offseasons in 2014 and ’15, the Cubs have signed just two players to deals worth $100MM or more: Yu Darvish, who was famously traded to the Padres halfway through his six-year, $126MM pact with Chicago, and Dansby Swanson. Cease will surely be seeking a contract worth at least that much, and it’s unclear if the Cubs would be willing to go out of their comfort zone to land him.

Another factor could be the Qualifying Offer, as the Cubs have generally been reluctant to sign qualified free agents. Swanson is the only free agent Chicago has signed with a QO attached outside of re-signing their own players since they signed John Lackey to a two-year deal in December of 2015. Even if the Cubs aren’t interested in playing at the top of the market, it’s at least possible that they would circle back to Cease later this offseason if his market doesn’t materialize, as they did with Cody Bellinger during the 2023-24 offseason and attempted to do with Alex Bregman last winter.

It’s also worth wondering whether adding a starting pitcher will be the team’s top priority this winter to begin with. Whether they pursue a reunion with Tucker or not, targeting a bat in free agency could make some sense given that the club’s internal options to replace him in the lineup would be unproven prospects Moises Ballesteros, Owen Caissie, and Kevin Alcantara. The bullpen might also be a priority given that every high leverage reliever from this year’s relief corps except Daniel Palencia is scheduled to hit free agency this winter.

Of course, starting pitching could become a larger priority for the club in a hurry depending on how the option decisions between the club and southpaw Shota Imanaga play out in the coming days. Imanaga departing for free agency would create some urgency to replace him in the rotation, while him remaining in the fold alongside Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, and Cade Horton with Justin Steele expected back from surgery in the first half of next season could be enough rotation talent to convince the Cubs to prioritize improving other areas of the roster. Colin Rea’s bargain $6MM club option for 2025 is likely to be picked up, and he’ll join Javier Assad as quality depth for the Cubs rotation headed into next year beyond their on-paper starting five.

Offseason Outlook: Chicago Cubs

By | at

The Cubs won a playoff series for the first time in eight years.  With clean books beyond 2026, will they make a major rotation addition this winter?

Guaranteed Contracts

Option Decisions

  • Shota Imanaga, SP: three-year, $57.75MM club option.  If declined, Imanaga has a $15.25MM player option for 2026.  If Imanaga exercises that, he'd have another $15.25MM player option for 2027 if the Cubs don't exercise a $42.5MM club option for 2027-28.
  • Andrew Kittredge, RP: $9MM club option with a $1MM buyout
  • Colin Rea, SP/RP: $6MM club option with a $750K buyout
  • Justin Turner, 1B/DH: $10MM mutual option with a $2MM buyout

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via Matt Swartz)

Free Agents

The Cubs broke through this year with a 92-win season, their highest total since 2018.  They reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and won a playoff game and series for the first time since 2017.  After the Cubs lost Game 5 of the division series to the Brewers with a "bullpen game" pitching approach, fans couldn't help but wonder if the team could have gone further with a healthy Cade Horton and/or Justin Steele.

Let's start this offseason outlook by assessing the complicated option of the pitcher the Cubs chose to avoid in Game 5, Shota Imanaga.  Imanaga, 32, was a rousing success last year as an MLB rookie.  He made the All-Star team and garnered Cy Young and Rookie of the Year votes, posting a 2.91 ERA in 173 1/3 innings.

After eight starts this year, Imanaga suffered a strained left hamstring that knocked him out for 53 days.  On the season, Imanaga's control remained excellent, but his average fastball velocity slipped below 91 miles per hour and his strikeout rate dropped below league average.  Among starters with at least 100 innings, Imanaga's 29.2% groundball rate was the lowest in baseball, leading to a 1.93 HR/9 rate that ranked second-worst.

Imanaga still managed a 3.73 ERA, but it's fair to say he demonstrated the skills of perhaps a 4.20 pitcher.  Even if 150 innings of a 4ish ERA is what the Cubs can expect from Imanaga moving forward, that's rotation-worthy.  The question is whether the Cubs would sign such a pitcher to a three-year, $57.75MM contract heading into his age-32 season, and commit to that in early November.

A good comp for that might be Dallas Keuchel's three-year, $55.5MM deal with the White Sox six years ago.  Though a groundball heavy pitcher, Keuchel was also a soft-tossing lefty heading into his age-32 season.  That contract did not go well.

There are soft factors to consider here, such as the Cubs' recruiting efforts toward other Japanese players and Imanaga's popularity with fans last year.  MLBTR writers debated Imanaga's complicated option situation, and here's our best guess:

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

Kevin Alcántara Undergoes Sports Hernia Surgery

By | at

Cubs outfielder Kevin Alcántara has undergone surgery to repair a sports hernia, the team announced. Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times was the first to report the news.

The Cubs have not offered a clear timeline for Alcántara’s recovery, but the surgery was successful, according to Lee, so there’s no reason to believe this will affect his 2026 campaign. Corey Seager is a prominent recent example of a player who returned from sports hernia surgery. He had a hernia on his left side repaired in late January 2024 and recovered quickly enough to start at shortstop on Opening Day just two months later. The following September, he needed another hernia repair, this time on the right side, and he returned in plenty of time to post a .950 OPS in 18 games in spring training. Barring a setback, Alcántara should still have a relatively normal offseason.

Acquired from the Yankees in the 2021 Anthony Rizzo trade, the 23-year-old Alcántara is one of Chicago’s top prospects. The latest lists from Baseball America and MLB Pipeline have him ranked fifth in the system, while FanGraphs and Keith Law of The Athletic are even higher on his skills, ranking him as the Cubs’ No. 1 and a top-50 prospect in the game. His calling card is huge slugging potential. He hit 26 doubles and 17 home runs across 102 games at Triple-A in 2025, and evaluators who are bullish on his bat think he has even more power to unlock. It’s easy to see why that’s so tantalizing, especially coming from a center fielder with plus speed.

Alcántara has taken a couple of sips of coffee at the big league level in each of the past two Septembers but has yet to establish himself in the major leagues. In truth, he could probably benefit from some more minor league seasoning in 2026; his .273/.356/.470 slash line and 111 wRC+ in 137 career games at Triple-A aren’t quite as impressive as his numbers from the lower levels of the minors. In particular, his 29.6% strikeout rate is concerning. Unfortunately for the Cubs, however, they’ll soon have to make a difficult decision. Alcántara will be out of minor league options next season. Presuming he’s healthy, he’ll need a spot on Chicago’s Opening Day roster next year – unless they trade him first.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top