Poll: Will The Cubs Trade From Their Infield?
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:
Will The Cubs Trade An Infielder This Offseason?
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No, they'll keep both players. 56% (3,078)
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Yes, they'll trade Nico Hoerner. 26% (1,443)
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Yes, they'll trade Matt Shaw. 17% (937)
Total votes: 5,458
Cubs Claim Justin Dean
The Giants announced that outfielder Justin Dean has been claimed off waivers by the Cubs. San Francisco had designated him for assignment last week to open a roster spot for Tyler Mahle. Chicago had multiple 40-man vacancies and doesn’t need to make a corresponding move. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to relay the transaction.
Dean, 29, just made his major league debut with the Dodgers last year. He was mostly used as a pinch runner and late-game defensive replacement. He appeared in 18 games for the Dodgers but only made two plate appearances. He then appeared in 13 postseason games as part of the Dodgers’ World Series run, but without making a plate appearance in any of those.
His speed gives him a decent floor as a guy who can steal some bases and run the ball down on the grass. From 2021 to 2025, he swiped 176 bags in 213 attempts in the minors, an 82.6% success rate.
His offense is more questionable but his 2025 was encouraging. Throughout his minor league career, he has drawn free passes but also been punched out at hefty rates. From 2021 to 2024, he had a nice 12.2% walk rate but an ugly 29.6% strikeout rate. In 2025, he was only struck out 23.6% of the time while keeping his walk rate at a healthy 11.2%. The result was a .289/.378/.431 line and 110 wRC+ in Triple-A, though that was propped up by a .380 batting average on balls in play.
The Dodgers bumped him off their 40-man at the end of the season. The Giants grabbed him off waivers and held him for a couple of months but ended up putting him back on the wire. For the Cubs, he’s a fine depth add, especially since they had multiple roster spots open. Dean still has a full slate of options and doesn’t need to be on the big league roster.
Chicago’s outfield alignment projects to feature Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki in starting roles. Kevin Alcántara, James Triantos and Pedro Ramírez are on the 40-man roster and could be candidates for bench roles. Triantos and Ramírez have no big league experience and still have options, so the Cubs would likely prefer them to be getting regular reps in the minors as opposed to sitting in the big league dugout. Alcántara has been optioned for extended stretches in each of the past three years but could qualify for a fourth option.
Since Dean is himself optionable, he could either be getting regular playing time in the minors or he could be in the majors, providing speed and defense off the pine. He has just 52 days of service time, so he can be cheaply controlled for the foreseeable future, as he won’t qualify for arbitration for at least three years.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks To Sign Jonathan Loáisiga To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks and right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN. The Ballengee Group client will be in big league camp with the Snakes in spring training.
Loáisiga, 31, has shown big potential in his career but has often struggled to stay healthy. His best season was in 2021, when he gave the Yankees 70 2/3 innings with a 2.17 earned run average. He averaged around 98 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a cutter, curveball, slider and changeup. He struck out 24.4% of batters faced, limited walks to a 5.7% clip and induced grounders on 60.9% of balls in play. He racked up five saves and ten holds for the Yanks that year.
The following season, he missed about six weeks due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He finished the year with a 4.13 ERA in 48 innings. His ground ball rate held fairly steady but he only punched out 18.2% of opponents and his walked rate climbed to 9.4%. Various elbow issues limited him to just 17 2/3 innings in 2023. He eventually underwent surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in April of 2024. He began 2025 on the injured list while still recovering from that surgery but was activated in the middle of May.
He tossed 29 2/3 innings last year with a 4.25 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate. His average fastball velo was down below 97 mph. He hit the IL in August due to back tightness. He was rehabbing from that minor issue when he suffered a lat strain, preventing him from returning late in the year. The Yanks turned down a $5MM club option on Loaisiga’s services for 2026.
Both the Diamondbacks and Loáisiga will be hoping for better health and a bounceback in 2026. Arizona definitely needs bullpen help. Their 2025 relief corps was supposed to be headlined by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both of those two required UCL surgeries in the first half. The Snakes finished the year with a collective bullpen ERA of 4.82, better than just three other big league teams.
Upgrading for 2026 is going to be a challenge as the club is likely going to be operating with a lower payroll, especially when adding to the rotation and outfield could still be priorities for the remainder of the offseason. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports reports that the club will likely be making more bullpen additions in the coming days. For now, Loáisiga adds a bit of upside without taking up a roster spot. If he does get added to the roster later, it’s unclear what his salary will be but it’s presumably not too onerous.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images
Phillies Acquire Chase Shugart
The Phillies announced that they have acquired right-hander Chase Shugart from the Pirates. Pittsburgh receives minor league infielder Francisco Loreto in return. The Bucs had designated Shugart for assignment last week to open a 40-man spot for Ryan O’Hearn. Philly had a 40-man vacancy but their roster is now full.
Shugart, 29, has tossed 53 2/3 innings in his career. The majority of that was with the Pirates in 2025, plus a brief stint with the Red Sox in 2024. Combined, he has allowed 3.52 earned runs per nine with an 18% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. He has averaged around 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a cutter, sweeper and changeup.
He has flashed a bit more upside in the minors. Last year, for instance, he tossed 20 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.74 ERA. He struck out 25.3% of opponents, limited walks to a 7.6% clip and induced grounders on 54.7% of balls in play. He still has an option remaining, so the Phils can shuttle him between Philly and Triple-A Lehigh Valley throughout the 2026 season. If he still has a roster spot at the end of the season, he can be retained into the future via arbitration.
In order to add that depth, Philly is parting with a prospect. Loreto, 18, was part of Philadelphia’s international signing class in 2024. Initially listed as a catcher when he signed out of Venezuela, he primarily played third base in 2025. He spent last year in the Florida Complex League and slashed .237/.332/.396. He doesn’t appear on top prospect lists but the Pirates are likely pleased just to get a lottery ticket as the return for a guy they had already bumped off the roster.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Guardians Sign Carter Kieboom To Minor League Deal
The Guardians announced Tuesday that they’ve signed former top prospect Carter Kieboom to a minor league contract. The ACES client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.
Now 28 years old, Kieboom was a first-round pick by the Nationals back in 2016 and has previously ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects. He never made good on that billing in parts of four seasons with Washington, however, slashing just .199/.297/.301 in 508 major league plate appearances. He spent the 2025 season with the Angels after signing as a minor league free agent. Kieboom batted .319/.368/.449 in an extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting and went 2-for-8 with a pair of singles in three games with the major league club. The Angels outrighted him following the season.
Kieboom has played third base and shortstop extensively in pro ball, logging more than 2100 innings at each position. He’s also played nearly 600 innings at second base. At the height of his prospect status, Kieboom was regarded as a safe bet to hit thanks to good pitch recognition, strong plate discipline and a quality all-fields approach at the plate. That hasn’t played out in the majors, but he’s a career .288/.380/.439 hitter in 1597 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Cleveland is set at third base with Jose Ramirez and has one of the top prospects in baseball, 2024 No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana, likely to make his debut at second base this coming season. Kieboom is presumably viewed as a bench/depth option with a tinge of upside remaining who could compete for a role in which he backs up multiple positions. If he doesn’t make the club, he’ll head to Triple-A Columbus as a depth piece.
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Dodgers Designate Ryan Fitzgerald For Assignment
The Dodgers announced that they have designated infielder/outfielder Ryan Fitzgerald for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man move to make their signing of infielder Andy Ibáñez official.
Fitzgerald, 32, has never played for the Dodgers. He was just claimed off waivers from the Twins last week. After years of grinding his way through indy ball and the minor leagues, Minnesota gave him a chance to make his major league debut last year. He stepped to the plate 53 times in 24 games, producing a .196/.302/.457 batting line. He played all four infield spots and flashed 79th percentile sprint speed. He also stepped to the plate 245 times in Triple-A and slashed .277/.367/.469 at that level.
That was enough for the Dodgers to grab him while they had an open roster spot but they have now bumped him off. It’s possible that this was by design. Fitzgerald has less than three years of big league service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, meaning he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency if he were passed through waivers unclaimed.
Now that he has been designated for assignment, the Dodgers will have to either trade him or put him back on the waiver wire in the next five days. Given his defensive versatility and solid year with the bat, it’s possible he draws interest from a club in need of some extra depth. If not, the Dodgers will keep him as non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images
Dodgers Sign Andy Ibáñez
Jan. 13: The deal is now official. Ryan Fitzgerald has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Jan. 10: Ibáñez’s deal is for $1.2MM, according to Romero. He can also earn up to $100k in performance bonuses.
Jan. 9: The Dodgers have signed infielder Andy Ibáñez to a major league deal, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. The salary has not yet been reported. The Dodgers have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this deal official. Ibáñez is represented by The Movement Baseball.
Ibáñez, 33 in April, was just non-tendered by the Tigers in November. He had spent three years with Detroit in a utility role. He got into 304 games over that span, stepping to the plate 820 times. He produced a combined batting line of .251/.304/.392, which translated to a wRC+ of 93. While that offense was a bit below average, Ibáñez provided a lot of defensive versatility. He played all four infield spots as well as the outfield corners.
That wasn’t enough to keep him in Detroit for 2026. He exhausted his final option year in 2025, meaning he will be out of options going forward. He had qualified for arbitration a year ago as a Super Two player. The Tigers paid him $1.4MM in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a raise to $1.8MM this year but Detroit didn’t tender him a contract, sending him to free agency instead.
The Dodgers have a relatively older infield group. Shortstop Mookie Betts is 33 years old and was a full-time outfielder not long ago. 36-year-old Freddie Freeman is at first base and 35-year-old Max Muncy is at the other corner. Getting a semi rest day in the designated hitter slot isn’t really an option thanks to the presence of Shohei Ohtani.
Second base is a bit more fluid. Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, Miguel Rojas and Alex Freeland are options for that spot. Rojas will be turning 37 years old soon. Edman isn’t quite as old, turning 31 in May, but is coming off ankle surgery. Kim can play other positions around the diamond. Freeland is a notable prospect for the club and still optionable, so perhaps it makes sense for him to be getting regular playing time in Triple-A if he doesn’t have an everyday job in the majors.
Ibáñez will give the club another multi-positional guy on the bench who can bounce around as needed, depending on who else is healthy and producing. If he has a good season with the Dodgers, he can be retained beyond 2026 via arbitration. Rojas has already said that he will retire after this year, so that’ll be one less guy in the mix for 2027 and beyond. Muncy is also slated for free agency a season from now but the Dodgers will presumably come up with some plan for third base in the next year, whether that’s bringing back Muncy or some alternative.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Happy Tuesday! I’ll get going at 1pm CT, give or take a couple minutes. As always, feel free to submit some questions ahead of time. I’ll take a mix of preloaded ones and live ones after we begin!
- Greetings! Apparently someone re-lit the stove.
Toronto Mike
- Reports state that Bo is seeking 300 million. Do you see him getting this kind of money?
Steve Adams
- No, I don’t, but if the real goal is something like $250MM, then of course you say you’re looking closer to 300.I still think it’s probably somewhere in the 225 range, but we’ll see.
Jagger
- Do you think Colin Rea gets traded to a club that needs pitching now that he is on the outside of the Cubs rotation?
Steve Adams
- Rea signed as a free agent, meaning he can’t be traded without his consent until June 15. This is his second straight one-year deal with the Cubs, and he’s a midwest guy who wants to be in the midwest. He’s not getting traded. He’ll be in a swing role, which is surely fine with him. He’s used to it. And with injuries, he’ll probably still start 10+ games (as long as he remains healthy himself)
Nolan Arenado
- Assuming St Louis can’t trade me, why not take a page from the Angels book and defer the remaining contract over 3 or 4 years and cut me loose?
Steve Adams
- One of the very earliest questions from this morning, ha. What a difference a few hours makes!
brewers fan
- Thoughts on the Nolan arenado trade?
Giants Aggressively Pursuing Second Base Upgrade
That the Giants are in the market for help at second base is well known at this point, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that San Francisco has been particularly “aggressive” in its pursuit of late, with recent talks regarding a pair of NL Central standouts: Nico Hoerner of the Cubs and Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals. Both were known targets for the Giants already, but it’s notable that they’re ostensibly ramping up their efforts to make a deal happen.
Giants second basemen were among the least-productive in all of baseball in 2025, hitting a combined .217/.273/.343. The resulting 73 wRC+ (indicating they were 27% worse than average at the plate) ranked 27th in the majors, leading only the Angels, A’s and Rockies. Tyler Fitzgerald led San Francisco with 233 plate appearances as the team’s second baseman, followed by Casey Schmitt (193), Christian Koss (137) and Brett Wisely (43). All four posted well below-average numbers with the bat while playing second base (though Schmitt hit better while playing other positions and was close to league-average with the bat overall).
Either Donovan or Hoerner would stand as a major upgrade. Both will play next season at 29 years old. Both are established contact hitters with defensive versatility, although the presence of Matt Chapman and Willy Adames on the left side of the infield would lessen the Giants’ need to take advantage of that positional flexibility. Donovan, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $5.8MM to avoid arbitration last week, is controlled through the 2027 season. Hoerner is owed $12MM in the final season of his three-year, $35MM contract this season.
Donovan figures to be the more readily available of the two in trade talks. The Cardinals are in the early stages of a multiyear rebuilding effort under new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. They’ve already shipped out Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras in separate trades to the Red Sox, and they’ve been fielding interest in lefty JoJo Romero while also working to find a taker for Nolan Arenado. Donovan’s remaining two years of club control don’t align with a realistic path to contention in St. Louis, and of all the team’s offseason trade assets, he stands as the one most likely to net a significant return.
Since making his MLB debut four years ago, Donovan has done nothing but hit. He carries a lifetime .282/.361/.411 slash in the batter’s box (119 wRC+) and has regularly proven to be one of the game’s toughest strikeouts. He drew a walk in 8.2% of his plate appearances in 2025 (9.1% career) and fanned at only a 13% clip (13.5% career). Donovan’s power is below average — he’s never topped 14 homers in a season — but he’s a former All-Star and Gold Glove winner who can also handle third base and the outfield corners (and perhaps some shortstop, in a pinch).
Hoerner is statistically one of Donovan’s most comparable hitters. Over the past five seasons, his .285/.342/.388 line (106 wRC+) closely resembles Donovan’s production. Hoerner runs far more often (131 steals to Donovan’s 15) and would be a plus defender at shortstop if not for the fact that he slid over to second base in deference to Dansby Swanson at shortstop.
Unlike the Cardinals, however, the Cubs are in clear win-now mode. Trading Hoerner just days after agreeing to a five-year deal with Alex Bregman would offset much of the good brought about by that Bregman signing. Given that, it seems quite likely that the Cubs would seek immediate MLB talent in any trade involving Hoerner, and the cost of acquisition would be fairly steep. Chicago could always move former top prospect Matt Shaw to second base — he might be the heir-apparent there now anyhow — but the Cubs could also simply keep all three infielders for the 2026 season and use Shaw in a utility role before handing second base to him full-time in 2027.
Payroll-wise, the Giants should have little problem fitting either player into the picture. RosterResource currently projects a $185MM payroll for San Francisco. That’s up a few million from last year’s levels but also a ways shy of the $200MM franchise record set back in 2018. And considering the fact that over the past 18 months, ownership has made three separate nine-figure commitments (Chapman’s $151MM extension, Adames’ $182MM contract, the $250MM+ remaining on Devers’ contract), it stands to reason that they’re at least open to further additions.
It bears mentioning that there’s no indication from Passan that Hoerner and Donovan are the only two targets on which the Giants are focused. The free-agent market still has one high-profile option in Bo Bichette, and even if he lands elsewhere, that deal itself could create some potential avenues for the Giants to explore. If Bichette were to sign in Philadelphia, for instance, the Phillies might be more inclined to part with Bryson Stott than would otherwise be the case. If he ended up in Boston, the Red Sox might have some additional infielders to discuss in trades. There are various paths the Giants can consider and other needs left to address on the roster (namely the bullpen), but having added Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser in the rotation, it appears second base is their focus for the time being.