Left-hander Matthew Boyd returned to the Cubs after his stint with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic and was promptly named the team’s Opening Day starter by manager Craig Counsell. He’ll take the ball and be followed by Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon and Shota Imanaga in some order. Righties Javier Assad and Ben Brown are potential 40-man alternatives, and veteran Colin Rea will open the season in a swingman role in the bullpen.
Boyd, who turned 35 last month, tossed a career-high 179 1/3 innings with the Cubs last season. He worked to a strong 3.21 ERA with a slightly below-average 21.4% strikeout rate but a terrific 5.8% walk rate. Boyd is entering the second season of a two-year, $29MM contract. He already unlocked $500K of incentives last year based on his workload, and he’ll be paid $14.5MM in 2026 with the opportunity to earn another $500K via incentives (reaching 120 innings). He’s also owed a $2MM buyout on a 2027 mutual option that won’t be picked up by both parties.
In other Cubs news, the team announced its latest wave of cuts this morning. Lefties Luke Little and Ryan Rolison were optioned to Triple-A, as was fleet-footed outfielder Justin Dean. The Cubs also reassigned a handful of non-roster players to minor league camp — Vince Velasquez most notable among them.
By sending Dean to Triple-A to begin the season, the Cubs made it quite likely that they’ll open the season with a current non-roster veteran holding a bench spot as a reserve outfielder. Former top prospect Kevin Alcántara remains in big league camp and is on the 40-man roster, but he has an option year left and is currently 4-for-21 with nine strikeouts in 23 official spring plate appearances. The team would presumably prefer him to be playing every day in Iowa rather than sitting on the bench and grabbing a start or two per week anyhow.
The most notable non-roster outfielders in camp are Dylan Carlson, Michael Conforto and Chas McCormick. Carlson has been the most productive of the bunch and offers the bonus of being a switch-hitter who can handle all three outfield spots. Conforto is a pure lefty who’s not an option in center field, though he has the most prominent major league track record of this group (albeit not in the past couple seasons). McCormick is a righty-hitting center fielder who can handle all three spots and has crushed lefties in the past (but struggled against all opponents in 2025).
One player who clearly seems ticketed for a heavily used role off the bench: former top prospect Matt Shaw. The 24-year-old hit just .226/.295/.394 as a rookie but did have a nice showing over the season’s final three months. The Cubs’ signing of Alex Bregman displaced Shaw from last year’s home at third base, and he’s now moving into more of a utility role.
We’ve already seen Shaw get some reps in the outfield and at second base, but The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma writes that he’s now working first base into his repertoire as well. Shaw tells Sharma that he worked out at first base for about three days before making his debut at the position there during yesterday’s Cactus League game.
Getting some work in at first base is all the more important in the event of Tyler Austin‘s knee surgery, which will keep him sidelined for several months. Austin returned from Japan’s NPB this year, signing a one-year deal with the Cubs to serve as a righty-swinging complement to Michael Busch at first base and the provide some pop off the bench.
That role is obviously on hold for the time being, and with no clear option to step up and take it — right-handed-hitting corner infield prospect Jonathon Long has been slowed in camp by an elbow issue — Austin’s injury could create some additional at-bats for Shaw in the early portion of the season. Busch batted .207/.274/.368 against lefties last season and is a career .230/.295/.356 hitter in left-on-left settings. Shaw hit .250/.318/.490 versus left-handers last year and finished as a Gold Glove finalist at the hot corner, so he should have the athleticism and defensive acumen to handle a multi-position role.
Cuba and brewers have a soft rotation. This is gonna be the reds year !
That is completely false about both teams smh
He’s probably an optimistic Reds fan or watched some YouTube or TikTok or whatever saying it’s the Reds year.
Cuba probably does have a weak rotation. The Cubs on the other hand do not and they also have Justin Steele rehabbing.
The Reds have a good starting rotation, a terrible bullpen and their offense is bad despite playing in one of the most hitter friendly parks in baseball.
Also, de la Cruz had the Reds highest WAR at 3.6 which was tied with Carson Kelly and lower than Busch, Hoerner, Swanson, PCA, Happ and 0.1 higher than Bregman who only played 114 games.
Just stinks they have to waste their time playing 162 and can’t legally be given the NLC crown on opening day.
giving 32 yr old bregman with his declining stats a 5 year/175mil deal is a huge overpay. he was worth that $ maybe 6-7 years ago
and as a result putting a strain on shaw’s development is a big mistake. he rly could have taken a huge leap like PCA. now he’s gotta learn half a dozen positions, and play off the bench
Increases his versatility and makes him more valuable at the deadline.
Bregman has an NTC by the way.
I wasn’t suggesting they trade Bergman. I was talking about Shaw
Oh.
Shaw needs more time off so he can attend more political rallies
Breggy’s the reason Brown was a Cy Young finisher and potentially why Arrighetti will be successful in the majors.
Brown has only received CY votes when Bregman was not on the team.
It won’t hurt Shaw at all. He’s been doing great in the OF. Plus he can play 3B, SS and 2B and he started at 1B yesterday. So that can probably be an emergency bind that he starts at 1st if they don’t call up Jonathon Long in time for a gametime start. And I think Jonny Long should be the platoon that Justin Turner was for Busch last year
I heard that on Locked on Brewers a week or two ago. Cubs should have been all in on Luis Rengifo but he wasn’t demanding a big enough contract and the Crew will now make him an All Star
Chaz Chomp! Cubs fan should learn the chomp, just in case. Chazzy Fizz!!! Will never forget what he did at Citizen Bank Park during the World Series.
Good for Boyd earning the opening day start. I’ve got a good feeling that Matthew Shawbrist is gonna have great success as the utility player for the Cubs.
Always that small bit of hesitancy to open any article about your team that lists players by name at this time of the year.
More often than not, it’s innocent news and progress, but I’m always ducking when I hit the open button hoping to dodge bone chips or sprained anything.
Congrats to Matthew Boyd! I’ve followed his career since he was a Blue Jays prospect; great to see him getting some traditional accolades.