The Cubs had a solid season in 2025 but it came to an end on Saturday when they dropped Gave Five of the Division Series to the Brewers. That turns the focus to the offseason and some upcoming decisions. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer held an end-of-season press conference yesterday but largely avoided tipping his hand about anything. Reporters such as Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic and Jordan Bastian of MLB.com provided dispatches from the presser.
Kyle Tucker’s impending free agency will be a big storyline this winter and Hoyer provided some boilerplate comments about trying to retain the player. “Everyone can use a guy like Kyle Tucker. Everyone gets better by having a player like that,” Hoyer said. “We’ll certainly be having those conversations.”
The Cubs obviously think highly of Tucker. Back in December, they gave up Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski and Cam Smith in order to acquire Tucker’s final year before free agency. They saw Tucker near his best for a while. He slashed .291/.395/.537 through the end of June for a 157 wRC+ while stealing 20 bases.
But his results tapered off as the season went along. A finger fracture suffered in early June didn’t immediately slow him down but seemed to catch up with him eventually. A calf strain also popped up later in the season. From July through the end of the season, Tucker slashed just .225/.348/.342 for a 103 wRC+. He had a .259/.375/.370 line and 118 wRC+ in the postseason.
Despite the tepid finish, Tucker has shown remarkably well-rounded production when healthy and should still be in high demand this winter. From 2021 to the present, he has a combined .277/.365/.514 line and 143 wRC+. He stole 105 bases in there with strong defensive grades, though the glovework seems to be trending down. FanGraphs credited him with 23.4 wins above replacement, making him one of the ten most valuable position players in that stretch.
Though he is limping towards free agency, it’s still possible Tucker’s market will be strong enough that he could secure something like a ten-year, $400MM deal. The Cubs could do that, in a sense. They are a big-market club and their future payroll is quite clean, with Dansby Swanson the only guy really locked in beyond 2026. However, they would need to shatter precedent, as the largest contract in franchise history is Jason Heyward’s $184MM deal from a decade ago.
One other guy who is technically on the books beyond 2026 is left-hander Shota Imanaga, thanks to his convoluted contract. In the next few weeks, it will be determined if he stays on the books or not. The Cubs will soon have to decide whether or not to trigger a three-year, $57.5MM club option for the 2026-28 season. If they turn that down, Imanaga has a $15.25MM player option for 2026. If he triggers that, after 2026, the Cubs have to decide on a two-year, $42.5MM club option. If that is turned down, Imanaga would get another $15.25MM player option.
Hoyer technically responded to a question about Imanaga yesterday but without really answering anything. “When we signed Shota, if you’d shown us his production over the last two years, we would have taken that in a heartbeat,” Hoyer said. “So not only has he produced for us, but he’s just a great teammate and terrific asset to the organization. Obviously we have decisions to make and discussions to (have). Over the next two or three weeks we’ll do that, but I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about Shota.”
After Imanaga’s MLB debut in 2024, the club option seemed like a no-brainer. He posted a 2.91 earned run average over 29 starts. Despite his fastball averaging just 91.7 miles per hour, he was able to strike out 25.1% of batters faced and only gave out walks 4% of the time. But his results backed up here in 2025. As he averaged just 90.8 mph on his fastball, he posted a 3.73 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 4.6% walk rate. That includes a rough second half with a 4.70 ERA.
Since Imanaga is now 32 years old and his trends aren’t great, it’s possible the Cubs may look to quit while they’re ahead. Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon and Cade Horton will have spots in next year’s rotation. Horton finished the season on the injured list due to a rib fracture but is healthy now. He actually would have been on the NLCS roster if the Cubs had advanced, per Bastian. Justin Steele will be back from his UCL surgery at some point. Colin Rea can be retained via a $6MM club option, which has a $750K buyout. Guys like Ben Brown, Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks will be in the mix.
Subtracting Imanaga from the group would further thin out a group that already looks lacking. On the other hand, adding Imanaga back in there would leave the rotation feeling decent but lacking in upside. There’s an argument that they should turn down their option and use the money saved to pursue more of a front-of-rotation arm. This winter’s free agent market will feature guys like Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez and others. The trade market could feature MacKenzie Gore, Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray and others.
As for the coaching staff, Hoyer noted they would all be invited back. That makes it possible the Cubs face minimal turnover this winter but it’s also possible some staffers get poached by other clubs. There are eight managerial vacancies and bench coach Ryan Flaherty has already been connected to a few of them. Once those new managers are hired, they will likely have some ability to make coaching decisions. That should lead to a lot of coaching musical chairs this winter, so time will tell if that impacts anyone with the Cubs.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel, Imagn Images
Hoyer should be a politician. He’s good at not answering a question and making you think he did at first.
Another half-measure offseason awaits.
They absolutely need a top starter. Horton may end up a 1 or 2, but besides Steele (who probly won’t really be back til mid-late season), all he has is a handful of 4th and 5th starters. A hard thrower like Cease would help a lot.
Framber Valdez would be my first choice.
They don’t need that ticking time bomb.
what happened to imanaga this yr?
first 13 starts: 2.40 era
final 12 starts: 5.17 era
k’s dropped dramatically and 31 hr in only 144 ip !
Pre-injury vs. post-injury. Seems likely there’s gotta be something still broken or lingering.
That, and he’s made more than enough starts for the league to start adjusting to him
hmm
in the 5 starts immediately after returning from injury
1.78 era, 0.66 whip
late july til end of season: 5.17 era and 20 hr in just 69 ip
he has to control the long ball, its killing him
I totally agree. It looked like he was hurting and it really shortened up his stuff. On a good day he’s 92-93. At 88-91 you can’t make any mistakes. He’s a small guy who has lots of movement in his delivery. I’m sure that doesn’t help anything either.
League figured out his patterns and who knows, may have had a tip too. Didn’t help to lose a tick or two of velo, which was probably injury related.
I’m amused by all the other Cubs fans wishcasting that Owen Caissie is just going to walk right in and replace Tucker’s numbers without missing a beat.
If geezers with their arms practically falling off can get $15 mill. a year, a serviceable starter with flashes of brilliance like Imanaga should be worth 3 yrs. $57.5 mill. Either the Cubs give it to him or someone else will.
Get Cease. Full circle.
Schwarber too?
Yes, and yes. I don’t have tons of faith in our front office, but they can sure buy some back if we can add these two. Sheffield would become a dangerous place with Schwarbz at the DH spot every day. I’d pick up the Rea option as well. 6 million for him seems perfect. Personally, I would probably let Imanaga go somehow if I could. I don’t hate him or anything, and won’t be disappointed to have him back if he is, but my thinking is, why bother if you had zero trust for him in the playoffs? He was very ineffective there at the end, and with 2 years of tape on him, it wouldn’t be a shock to see a more pronounced regression. Big offseason for us. I don’t think Tuck will be back, and I don’t know if Caissie is ready for 600 PAs, and I’m positive his production won’t be what Tucker’s was. Besides, if you sign Schwarber, and don’t trade Seiya/Happ, your OF is already set anyway, with not many ABs for Caissie. Hoyer and Hawkins have some work to do, that’s for sure.
They need a bat but it won’t be Schwarber or Tucker. They can cover DH with Ballesteros/ Suzuki. Tucker is just flat out gonna be way beyond what Ricketts will pony up.
I don’t know that there is any need to thrust 600 ABs on Caissie. He may step up and break the door down, but Seiya played a very solid RF the last couple months and his bat was stellar. Moises Ballesteros looks like a natural hitter to me who can handle DH nicely.
You all need to do something if you have any hope of getting past the Brewers winning the division next year. Regardless of what you do that team is still stuck with Clownsell and his mismanagement. All I can say is good luck.
You definitely ain’t the truth. More like uvas agrias.
I’d forgotten about the contract situation. So the only way to really jettison Imanaga would be to trade him. If that’s what they wanted to do.
Then there’s the really interesting discussion on whether he’s more valuable locked in for 3 years or guaranteed less but able to walk if he has a good year.
Rather than read Dumb and Dumber from The Athletic. They always have the answer on where the car went once it arrives. Why not watch the full press conference and hear the questions from the press as it was aired and rebroadcast on Marquee Network. I forget which genius asked if Tucker isn’t coming back why not replace him wirh Schwarber? If that happens I can’t wait for the same people complaining about him hitting under 200 with strikeouts. It’s like a Life Cereal commercial
I know this is a long shot, but I’m kind of hoping that Bellinger resigns with the Cubbies and Tucker walks, but I also feel that Owen Caissie needs to be given his chance to shine. As for Imanaga, the jury is out. When he’s hot, he’s untouchable, but when he’s not, the home runs fly. His self confidence took a hit too late in the year.
Tucker will get a stupid contract that will end up having everything deferred because the MLB rules are ridiculous.
I’d like to think it will be a team like SF or LAD who is on the hook for that. Tucker would not be a wise investment by the Cubs, and with his 2nd half swoon you have to look around the league and ask, “Is any player really worth $40M a year?”
Caissie should end up in RF. Ballestroes should get some time catching with the challenge strike in place. He played under that system in Iowa and had a strong track record on winning his challenges. So catching should up more knowing when to challenge and arm strength vs framing going forward. Kelly had a career year and expecting that to be the new norm is folly.
Shota is the biggest question. I do not see Jed pulling that opt. The question will be Shota being smart and taking the 15M or prideful and taking off to the West Coast with the rest of his native friends.
So long story short: Jed will spend on the pen and a front line starter to replace Shota. Tucker is a pipe dream.
It would be foolish for the Cubs to at least not try to re-sign Tucker.