The Cubs made a major splash over the weekend by landing star third baseman Alex Bregman on a five-year deal. As a multi-time All-Star who reliably offers Gold Glove defense at third base and posts offense in the 125 wRC+ range, Bregman is sure to provide a major lift to the club headed into 2026. Strong as the signing is for the team, however, it also creates questions about the future of some of their other players. The 2025 Cubs ended the season with regulars all around the infield. Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner handled shortstop and second base for the third consecutive season, while Matt Shaw entered 2025 as the team’s top prospect and had taken over third base on a regular basis by the end of the year.
The addition of Bregman leaves the club with four infielders for three positions. The designated hitter spot could help. With Kyle Tucker not expected to re-sign with the Cubs, Seiya Suzuki could spend more time in the outfield in 2026. However, Moises Ballesteros is currently the favorite for the DH spot, as he had a strong debut with the bat in 2025 but is considered a work in progress as a catcher.
Having too many guys is a good problem to have but it’s still worth considering whether the Cubs will do something to break up that logjam in the short-term. If they don’t, Shaw is likely to be the odd man out. He has options remaining and could certainly be sent to Triple-A Iowa to open the season, though he could also be carried on the club’s bench in a utility capacity. Hoerner is set to hit free agency following the 2026 season, so perhaps the likeliest option is Shaw taking a depth role for this year before taking over at second base when Hoerner reaches free agency next winter.
That’s a plan that comes with flaws in the short- and long-term, however. For one, Shaw losing the opportunity to get consistent, major league at-bats could have an adverse effect on his development. The 24-year-old turned in a decent rookie season in 2025, slashing .226/.295/.394 (93 wRC+) overall in 126 games. Those overall numbers are hardly exceptional, but he improved as the season went on. After the All-Star break, Shaw slashed a very impressive .258/.317/.522 with a wRC+ of 130 as he crushed ten doubles, three triples, and 11 homers in just 205 trips to the plate.
That considerable power potential Shaw flashed is certainly enticing, but it could be difficult for Shaw to build on that success if faced with either inconsistent playing time in a bench role or minor league competition at Triple-A. As noted by The Athletic’s Keith Law in the aftermath of the Bregman signing, Shaw went through several mechanical changes throughout 2025 and at times resisted help from the Cubs’ coaching staff. The youngster’s numbers took a turn for the worse during the final weeks of September and into the postseason, so it’s possible there’s more tweaks left for him to make as well.
That could make trading either Hoerner or Shaw himself a viable outcome. Hoerner’s name has popped up semi-frequently as a trade candidate over the past two offseasons, and it’s certainly easy to see why rival teams would have interest. The 28-year-old is coming off a career year in 2025. He posted a 109 wRC+ and struck out at a microscopic 7.6% clip in 154 games for Chicago. Over the past four years since becoming an everyday player, Hoerner has slashed .284/.339/.389 (105 wRC+) with an above-average wRC+ in every season. He’s paired that solid bat with elite defense at second base and also demonstrated the ability to be a above-average defensive shortstop before being bumped to the keystone by the team’s signing of Swanson back in 2023.
Taken together, Hoerner has been worth 19.6 bWAR and 17.5 fWAR over the past four seasons. That consistent four-to-five win production up the middle is certainly attractive, especially with Hoerner set to make an affordable $12MM salary this year.
The Mariners, Giants, and Yankees are among the teams that have been connected to him in trade to this point. Even as teams have come calling after Hoerner, however, the Cubs seem unlikely to deal him. Signing one impact infielder just to trade another would undercut the improvement offered by signing Bregman, and so it’s not a shock that The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma has suggested that the Cubs would have to be “blown away” in order to deal Hoerner.
Perhaps, then, trading Shaw to a team where he could get consistent playing time in a bid to either add more impact to the roster or beef up a flagging farm system could be the best course of action available to the Cubs. Shaw still has six years of team control remaining and will make the league minimum in 2026, meaning that he could be a fit for a number of teams that might want to upgrade their offense on the cheap. The Pirates, Guardians, Royals, Athletics, Angels, and Nationals are all teams that struggled to find production at either second or third base last year and could appreciate Shaw’s years of control and affordable price tag.
Even that comes with risks, however. Shaw’s value is arguably down relative to this time last year, when he was a consensus top-30 prospect in baseball. Additionally, Hoerner’s status as a pending free agent would make trading Shaw a big risk if not paired with an extension for Hoerner. The upcoming free agent class is reasonably deep in middle infield talent (Ha-Seong Kim, J.P. Crawford, Jazz Chisholm Jr.) but successfully landing one of those players is no guarantee. The team’s internal options behind Shaw are lackluster, as well. James Triantos was once one of the team’s better prospects but had a disastrous season at Triple-A last year that calls into question his prospect status. Jefferson Rojas had a solid year in 2025 but may not be big league ready by 2027.
How do MLBTR readers think the Cubs will handle their infield logjam? Will they work out a trade involving Shaw or Hoerner prior to Opening Day, or will they simply carry both players into the season despite the lack of playing time available? Have your say in the poll below:
Iām a rival of the cubs, but they should really deal Swanson and not Hoerner.
Who’s gonna tell him?
Metvino—I’ll tell him…..somebody with the Chisox in his name is not a rival of the Cubs. Cubs play in a division and league with the Cardinals, Pirates, Reds and Brewers.
Just another Sox fan worried about the Cubs.
Pretty sure that’s what you meant.
White Sox are an oops child team the Cubs always forget lives under the same roof until the crosstown holiday gathering.
omgā¦..š¤£
Chisox- Swanson has 4 years of control, compared to 1 year of control on Hoerner. You can’t really move Swanson, but Hoerner, on the other hand, has great trade value, and with only a year of control left, it makes sense to move him.
The difference is Hoerner is a top 25 batter in the game while Swanson is over 200 batter in the game
Dansby has a full no trade and a massive contract. The idea of trading Dansby isnāt a thing
Swanson’s contract really isn’t massive. It’s 4/$109M remaining, some think Bichette will get more than double that.
Chisox378,
How do you define “top 25 batter?”
So they trade Swanson, keep Nico, then Nico becomes a FA at the end of the year. If the Cubs want him back they’ll have to outbid teams like the Dodgers, NYYs, and Red Sox. If they wanted Nico over Swanson in the long run they should have extended him a couple years ago. And I’d guess they probably tried to but couldn’t.
Extend Hoerner now, trade Swanson and free up money
looks like you missed the part about swanson’s no trade clause.
There’s no way Nico agrees to an extension now. Not with a big FA pay day so close. It’s why I said they should have tried to extend him a couple years ago, and they probably did. Nico probably had the idea of getting to free-agency all along.
And at this point the Cubs would have to eat some of Swanson’s salary to move him. They aren’t saving much, if anything at all, paying Nico not to become a FA, and partly paying Swanson to play for someone else. In fact they could lose money in that scenario.
100% they should keep both Hoerner and Shaw in 2026.
Good luck moving that NTC Dansby has.
I logged in to grace thee with my wisdom.
They will wait until trade deadline to decide.
Whatever you say Pol Pot.
I agree BTW. I just like your screen name there Chairman Mao.
Man, Hoyer better not trade either Shaw or Hoerner…
Why not?
Mostly because a trade will be hard to make sense of. Hoerner will get a QO and have a draft pick attached. The trade needs to both account for Hoerner’s value to the Cubs’ 2026 lineup AND the draft pick compensation. I’m not confident a team would pay for both of those considerations.
The Cubs are likely better off letting Shaw hold the role that the likes of Workman, Berti, and Brujan tortured them from last season. He then serves as long-term insurance, if the Cubs lose Hoerner in FA. Hoerner+Shaw this season and Shaw+comp pick next season likely outweighs any trade offer they’ll get.
Man you guys really put too much thought into this stuff sometimes
I selected that Nico is getting traded based on my ultra-reliable Fan-Hope meter, which indicates that somehow Cashman overcomes his own deficiencies and convinces the Cubs that he has prospects for them, without dumping the farm.
And, I donāt want to brag, but my fan meter is 125% accurate also.
If Nico had more control, a trade wouldn’t surprise me. Teams would be more willing then to part with quality pieces. But, at this point, IMO Nico has more value to the Cubs than what the return would be.
And they’d be selling low on Shaw who’s cheap enough to keep. The only issue would a roster one.
Shaw hit really well in the second-half, and showed himself capable of playing 3B in the majors, on top of being a highly rated prospect as a 2B. I don’t think they’d have to sell low to trade him at all.
Is would be taking 2 steps back after taking 5 steps forward with the Bregman signing.
It will be absolutely asinine if they traded Nico or Shaw.
Extend Nico 6/110
Somebody is going to go 6/150 for him to be their starting SS
Probably why he’s suggesting they extend him now.
There has been one 6+ WAR player traded. Soto. He had 2+ seasons of team control. It just doesnt happen with rentals because it’s impossible to replace that level of production in that type of trade.
I dont think Shaw gets traded either, mostly because he has too many holes in his game. Corner IF have little value beyond their current team unless they have great power. Shaw does not. His 3.1 bWAR was based entirely on a 12 DRS. On defense he has huge question marks with range in the 36th percentile on StatCast and arm strength even worse. His FRV was 45th perventile, a -1. Below average offense in a large enough sample size combined with below average defense is not all that valuable in trade. Combine that with a bad decision on the PR front to both leave his team in the middle of a playoff hunt and then speak at the TPUSA event and his trade value is negligible.
I do know he was a top prospect, but they flame out at a high rate so that won’t be enough to provide enough value to another team.
Both stay. Shaw does utility duty and hopes that Hoerner doesn’t get extended.
There have been a few 6+ WAR guys traded – Betts for sure was.
Hoerner is the one that shows up in all the rumors. Shaw finished the season well.
If I had to go to Vegas and make a bet they don’t make a deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved Hoerner. Though if they package Shaw they could make a run at Skubal or one of the Reds good young pitchers. The rotation is solid but they don’t have that true ace. A Shaw, Wiggins, Rojas and Alcantra would be a strong package .
Wiggins, as the only premier pitching prospect they have, is going nowhere.
They will because 1. They are stupid and 2. this is a horrible family funding and supporting a convicted felon, pedophile for the White House. I watched Pete Pricketts lying on TV about ICE murdering an innocent US citizen. F this team
Shaw and Horton off to Detroit for Skubal. Jed pulls a trade for one year of Skubal like he did last year for one year of Tucker.
Tigers need another Horton!
Or…Tigers get off their butt and sign Skubal.
As serious contenders, the Cubs figure to keep both players through the 2026 season. That could change if they negotiate a contract extension with Nico Hoerner. In that case, trading Matt Shaw makes more sense since Hoerner, Alex Bregman and Dansby Swanson will all be locked up through at least 2029.
Logical-if Hoerner is approached with extension terms both like, Shaw could be dealt at that point for a cost controlled OF so that the outfield cheapness balances out expensive infield.