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.
So he should telegraph to other teams, and agents what his plan is??
No thanks. We already have enough of that in Illinois.
“Mistakes have been made”
He’d have to weigh 350 pounds and be a nepo baby to be a politician in Illinois.
I’d take that particular Illinois nepo baby over a particular similarly-overweight New York nepo baby any day of the week and twice on Tuesday.
You have Pritzker.
Yes.
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.
I’d like Cease (back).
I think they’ll keep Imanaga if only because there are so many uncertainties in the rotation.
But if you listened to what he said they want “depth” not a top of the rotation guy although that would be ideal.
Avenger-What uncertainties in the rotation? I can say probably for a fact that the rotation will be Horton-Boyd-Taillon-either a FA or trade piece or Imanaga-and Rea or Assad. With Steele joining in sometime and Wiggins maybe at the end somewhere. That’s as certain as it gets. After that Boyd-Taillon and Rea are FA’s after 2026 and a new CBA is here. Then you might see changes, In fact you WILL see changes.
That’s great, if you believe Horton, Taillion, and/or Boyd will make it through the year injury free.
No offense rondon, but if I’m making a splash on a long term ‘type of contract’, it wouldn’t be on Cease. His pitch counts and his command last year were miserable. I would never trust him except maybe on a one year deal.
I’d agree with some here, that Ranger Suarez would be a good target if the money was right, but . . . do we need another LH SP? Id try my best to get Happ to accept a trade – that could get a RH SP, if Happ was traded along with someone like Alcantara.
I don’t trust bringing Tucker back either. Seiya would be fine in RF or LF for one more year. Then Moises B would get plenty of ABs as DH.
It’s kind of pointless for us to speculate on who or what the the Cubs exact starting staff will look like next year until we know what the decision on Shota will be. If he’s picked up we’re done here. Rea will be picked up for sure so I don’t get all the Cease or any other guy to start speculation. It’s pointless at this point. If you didn’t know Hoyer was going to say nothing yesterday then you are daft or never heard him talk before.
I can’t disagree with ya, Dogbone. Maybe Cease or someone else. But they need a hard thrower to go with all those soft tossers. I don’t know if Ranger is that big of an arm, but he’s a winner and that couldn’t hurt. They need another top starter because all those 4s and 5s just won’t cut it. Maybe Wiggins will work out, but he’s unproven as of now. And I couldn’t agree more about trading Happ…
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.
Well that certainly won’t happen, but if/when Tucker walks, someone’s gotta play RF, and it shouldn’t be Seiya.
Caissie would likely out-slug Tucker’s post All-Star break numbers.
Tucker had injury issues after the All-Star break. Even when playing less than 100%, he still takes a lot of walks. Caissie strikes out way too much, even when completely healthy. Suzuki, while not a great defender, is no worse in right field than Ian Happ is in left. Of course a lot of those same Caissie-wishcasting Cubs fans are probably awed by Happ’s Gold Gloves for a position where every team puts their worst defensive player who isn’t a full-time DH.
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.
They put Moises at DH in over a third of his games at AAA. That to me signals that he is not going to be an MLB catcher. He also had a 13% CS percentage and gave up a SB in his only MLB C start
Shota was 5th in Cy Young voting just last year. I would give him that money and hope for the best. I like it a lot better than the alternative options
Send Civale and Soroka packing. Nothing to see there.
Cubs need a power RH to pair with Horton; trade for Ryan or sign Cease to be your ace. Then sign Houser and let him and Rea your be depth/long relievers with Assad.
Cease/Ryan
Boyd
Horton
Steele
Taillon
Houser
Rea
Assad
Wiggins
Now that’s some depth to fill in while Steele is out and for Boyd when his arm falls off.
Then someone tell Ben Brown he is a reliever.
Cease is no longer ‘ace’ material. You must not have seen him pitch much last year.
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.
I hear you Rondon, and you are probably right about not getting them, and I do really like the season Suzuki put together, but I think letting Tuck walk (which I’m okay with) but simply handing those at bats to Moises/Owen just might not be enough. Our deadline this summer should be a good lesson about half measures. Jump in, or stay out. Like it said, not much committed beyond 26 aside from Swanson, so theoretically, we have dough to spend. If the roster looked like this on Opening Day, are we happy?
1B-Busch (loved him out of this spot)
2B-Hoerner
DH-Schwarber (4/125….5/150??)
RF-Suzuki
CF/LF-PCA/Happ
C-Kelly (we all good with him coming back? I am.)
LF/CF-Happ/PCA
SS-Swanson (an offseason to clear his head will be good.)
3B-Shaw
C/DH – Ballesteros
OF-Caissie/Alcantara (can’t imagine we keep both)
INF/OF-???
INF/OF-???
SP- Cease/Valdez/Suarez (Who do you like?)
SP- Horton
SP- Taillon (I don’t know why, I have a good feeling for 26)
SP- Boyd
SP- Imanaga(???) (Steele back May/June)
RP/SP- Rea (Replace Imanaga if he’s gone until Steele??)
RP- Keller
RP- Brown (Great stuff. Misses bats. Not a starter.)
RP- Kittredge (I’d be ok if he was back at 9M)
RP- Assad/Wicks (Not both)
RP- Palencia
RP- Thielbar (If he plays. Solid year. He turns 39 soon)
RP- NEW FACE?? (Kopech? Probably need a LHP)
Any thoughts here?
I wouldn’t argue with anything you said there Natural. Just be nice to see Schwarber back at Wrigley. I’m probably fan-boying it a little bit, but you gotta, right? What you would commit to Schwarber and one of Cease/Suarez/Valdez, will probably be less than what Tucker gets. We GOTTA get another good arm though. That Milwaukee series was tough to watch Craig and the computer boys figure out what to do. Clearly missing an arm or two, and the relief market this winter looks rather bleak.
Zac-= That will push them over the Tax and I can state emphatically that almost none of that is going to happen. Ricketts already made that clear early in the year that says the budget won’t go over the tax until they have a new CBA so your plan won’t happen. Sorry
Zac—agree with most of your thoughts.
My disagreements—-obvious one is Amaya is the starting catcher when healthy, but Kelly fits in the plan perfectly–although it’s hard to get good Yan Gomes/bad Yan Gomes out of my head.
Also, if you are giving $30+ a year to Schwarber you better just give $40 to Tucker. And I do agree with you, I’m OK with letting Tuck walk at the crazy price also.
If you sign Schwarber you are forced to eliminate two of these three from your team entirely: Ballesteros, Caissie, or Alcantara. Ballesteros will have zero at bats and Caissie/Alcantara battle it out for the fourth outfielder because neither are replacing Seiya for at bats.
Now that does open a Ballesteros/Caissie or Alcantara led package for a Sandy Alcantra or Joe Ryan or Pablo Lopez…but I think signing Schwarber who is truly one dimensional pins you it (especially at $100M +) and locks the roster.
For the pitching staff you have to stack eight or nine starters and then have the 20+ they had in the system that they sifted through like this year until the top 12 or 13 evolved.
I’ve stood firm for over a year plus now—I don’t see Ricketts doing anything drastic with the high potential of zero revenue in the pockets in 2027 and maybe further. Remember, the high percentage of his revenue is inside that park, but there’s a nice chunk of revenue dependent upon the activity and business outside the park.
Ballesteros to me is still a trade chip. Jonathon Long is a bat that deserves a shot and can be a reserve piece and easily replace Turner who was mostly a lame player/shrink. As far as salary goes you’re not getting a guy like Schwarber without losing salary so say goodbye to Taillon and Imanaga probably which wouldn’t really help the long range plan. You’re a Tax team for 2026 face reality and most likely after 2026 too. So you need to temper your expectations accordingly.
With you all the way on this Uncle—the focus will be pitching and there really doesn’t need to be a large expenditure on the offensive side of the ball.. You’re right about Long and with a mix of guys like Caissie, Alcantara, Ballesteros your bench is very cheap to the bottom line.
I think the Twins are a mess and probably will surpass the White Sox at the bottom of the AL so I think guys like Lopez and Ryan could be available for the right package. Obviously want to avoid guys like Shaw and Wiggins—but like you said Ballesteros can start conversations and then you start piling names like Wicks, Brown, Assad, Neely, Little and see what the combination is that grabs interest.
Same with Schwarber.
I agree, I don’t see the necessity of ANY long term commitment to Tucker, let someone else tie up that much on him. Tucker will never be the stud that he was in Houston – never again for any team. Much less playing half his games in Wrigley.
Aloha Uncle, as much as I like Moises, I agree, he could be trade chip. I am hoping that the FO let’s Tucker go then sign a Bieber or King. Other salary will come off the books. If they retain Shota, I think it will be reworked/renegotiated. I’d like Schwarber on a short deal but as you said, no way the ownership wants to go over the tax threshold. At least if the FO can say sayonara to Tuck, they’ll have money for a starter and some other BP help plus it keeps talent in the minors until a good trade possibility comes about, meaning not more rentals like tucker. Anyhow, pitching is very important going into next year. Mahalo!
Zac… If they don’t trade Ballesteros or Caissie, they’ll be in the same boat they’ve been in with PCA and Shaw- There’s no shortcuts to finding out if they’re for real short of letting them play. I’m still not sure what they have in Shaw just yet. Even PCA has more to work through. Bottom line for me is I just don’t think Ricketts is gonna hand out big contracts for top talent. If he does, a top starter is probably at the top of the list, right? Outside of the trade market, I don’t know what Hoyer’s going to be able to pull off… And I just have to add, I am not a Happ fan.
I’d LOVE Schwarbs back, but since Jed was the one who in his infinite wisdom flat-out released him, I don’t see it happening.
I’m actually still surprised he took that one-year deal with the Nationals lol
To be fair, and I’m not a Jed defender by any stretch, at the time, it probably WAS the right move to let Schwarber go. He was struggling. That ridiculous Covid year kinda wreaked havoc on a lot of teams and players. I’m sure altered some plans and trajectories.
Cubs let Schwarber go because there was no DH then plain and simple. Then they ratified the DH the year after he was gone. Just bad timing.
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.
And you are definitely La impostora.
Unfortunately, this ain’t college football, so I think we are stuck with Counsell for awhile. I’m not one of these dudes absolutely screaming for his head or anything. We did win 92 games this year. but I think you’re expectations raise when you pay a guy that much when it’s all computer decisions anyway, and the questions arise, when you look at how good the Brewers have been since he bounced. He looked a bit lost in the playoffs. Was that lack of pitching? No wifi in the dugout? I don’t know, but I can give props where due though, and Murphy has that team, made up of mostly young, not superstar type players, in the NLCS.
Some teams are not built for the PO even though they had good regular seasons. Then there’s teams like the Dodgers, who are definitely a post season team.
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?”
His “swoon” was due to injury.
Luke, the force can be with you to stop watching professional baseball, then.
Deferring money has been a part of MLB contract negotiations, and if you still think players and their agents literally load a hand cannon and aim it to the GM’s head to cough up the money for a contract, please, respectfully, go back to school and refresh.
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.
You have no idea what Joe Ricketts will allow Tom to allow Jed to spend.
Springboarding off a statement in the article, there’s an argument they should pick up their Shota option AND pursue a front-of-rotation arm.
That’s something that should’ve happened the moment Steele went down. I’m willing to extend the benefit of the doubt that Hoyer tried to make that happen, but there were slim pickings out there, and nothing resembling a good risk worth emptying out the prospect cache. But there’s a solid slate of free agents out there this off-season and some decent trade possibilities, so adding a TOR pitcher to Steele, Horton, Shota, and Boyd would make for a stellar core-four, with Taillon, Assad, and Rea as excellent 5-options for a normal rotation and replacements if one of the core-four go down with an injury and until Steele is healthy enough to return. Not to mention the possibility of going to a 6-man rotation, which I think more teams are going to start doing just as a preventative health measure.
Definitely also pick up that option on Rea. He gave the Cubs their money’s worth in 2025; no reason not to bank on something resembling that happening again in 2026.
It would be really nice to see them re-sign Tucker. Not particularly optimistic in the Ricketts extending themselves like that, and I’m not going to hazard a guess on what Tucker’s actual market is going to be, but maybe it’ll be within reach of ownership’s pain tolerance. Having Tucker in right field for the next handful of years would be amazing.
However it shakes out though, 2025 was a fun year to watch the Cubs, but it needs to be like that every year. No way the Cubs should be a borderline lightning in a bottle team, only seeing the post-season occasionally.
Tucker feels like he is going to be Jason Heywood 2.0
Its somewhat amazing that a guy puts up an .841 OPS and an OPS+ of 143 and people act like he was Aaron Miles. Impossible fan expectation for him to live up to.
Heyward, i mean
The Cubs position players produced 39 wins in 2025. The pitching produced 7.4. And 3 of the Cubs top 4 relievers are free agents. The Cubs also have Caissie ready to replace Tucker. What they clearly need is pitching. They need a top end starter and at least a couple high end pen arms.
10/400 for a guy averaging about 5 WAR seems like a stretch. In recent years, guys like Freeman, Mookie, Manny, X even, coming off higher years getting 25-35 mil contracts – and some of those contracts have been bashed as bad.
So why is Tucker at 10/400 a good idea? Isn’t he just as susceptible to decline in years 6-10 as all of the other guys with fat contracts that won’t age well?
It isn’t like he has 6-7 WAR years to project out surplus in first 1-5 years.
It isn’t my money so whatever, just having a hard time seeing it based on 8-10 similar long term deals given to top guys on past few years – Soto and Ohtani don’t count as those 2 are in a league of their own and have had the higher WAR to justify the risk.
I took Hoyer’s comments on Tucker as bs, but I actually believe they will pick up Shota’s option.
I agree regarding Shota.
Hoyer wasted everyone’s time bc he said nothing. Maybe it’s bc he’s clueless and is waiting for ownership to pull the strings and tell him what to do. And what if he did tell us his plans, like saying we’re all in because he said that this year and when he got to the trade deadline they weren’t all in. When he wanted to trade for more pitching, guess what, other teams wanted some of his prospects that he wouldn’t give up because he’s looking to be competitive in future years instead of trying to win this season. Jed’s a pawn of ownership who got his own contract extended who will always live in Theo Epstein’s shadow.
Wait a minute, the season just came to a delicious end with a wild card loss after choking the NL Central lead, multiple players coming back to Earth after the All Star break and a fan base that is upset that another team mocked them with an L flag. After 10 yrs of doing nothing, they continue doing just that.
Save your advice for your south side ‘powerhouse’.
Tucker he gone! No way hoyer and rickets will shell out $400K plus, let alone $200K.
For what Tucker will want and for the Cubs to put a long term competitive team around him, he would have to agree to deferrals in his contract.
Probably the same for a few other players/pitchers also. Only a few owners willing to run their teams like this vs. paying one or two to keep a few fans coming, take the revenue sharing, claim the tax write offs they can and pocket whatever profit.
Tucker and Bregman
Why are they being promoted like this?
Not even 34 hrs…..between the both of them….Bregman hit a whole 11 home runs…
Not a high BA either….
Someone or someones, very influential, trying to secure BIG BUCKS for these guys…?
????????
What do both Seattle and cubs have in common as both teams fell short for obvious reason. Both teams relied on long balls with no men on base and couldn’t produce consistently with risp!