2026 Roster

[chibears55]

With meeting starting Sunday, I took a look at current roster and what exactly are their needs or openings as of now. 

On paper, they really don't need much as they have capable players to fill in the holes if they choose to stay mostly in house, which is basically RF, 1 SP, bullpen, and bench.

Starting Nine....

C Amaya

1B Busch

2B Hoerner

SS Swanson 

3B Shaw 

LF Happ 

CF PCA 

RF

DH Suzuki 

They can go with Caissie in RF or Ballesteros as DH with Suzuki in RF if they feel either is ready to start OD. 

Bench...

C. Kelly 

IF

OF

UT Kingery

Could use a veteran LH bat, otherwise I can see them basically giving their AAA guys the opportunity here.

 

Starting Pitchers...

SP Imanaga 

SP Boyd 

SP Horton 

SP Taillon 

SP Rea 

Would love to see them get another top end SP and move Rea to the Pen, but i just have a feeling Hoyer is satisfied with having the top 4 guys here and eventually Steele. I think Hoyer will just add depth SP to compete with Rea and Assad for the 5th spot and keep them stashed in AAA and/or the pen til needed.

Bullpen....

Rel Assad

Rel 

Rel 

Rel

Rel

Rel

Rel Maton 

Rel Palencia 

Would love to add a closer or veteran late inning guy to go with Palencia and Maton.

Hodge Brown Little Roberts Wicks are going to be competing for spots, but hopefully Hoyer addresses and brings in better arms to fill in the openings here.

 

I hope Hoyer makes some big moves this offseason, I think we might see one major addition and then nothing special to fill the rest of roster out.

Tax Threshold is 244, Cubs projected to be around 195 after ARBS, if they hold around 15+ for inseason additions, that leaves them with approximately 30+ to spend.

[CubUgly]

We need to quit worrying about holding the $ for mid season - as we saw last year that don't always work out and you may not be in contention when the time comes if you don't address needs before the season starts. 

I know the reality of how the Cubs have chosen to do business....and i don't like it, but they are going to do it so just need to do it smarter. 

[BKHoo]

The problem is the roster is really solid so you could argue they have a complete club. Even now you might say we have our 8th and 9th inning bullpen and some good prospects for the 7th. 
 

What we don’t have are any superstars….on both O and in our pitchers.  Can you win a WS that way? I don’t think so. I want another BIG bat and a top of the rotation guy. We should want both. It makes everyone better but it does cost serious coin. 

[chibears55]

17 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

The problem is the roster is really solid so you could argue they have a complete club. Even now you might say we have our 8th and 9th inning bullpen and some good prospects for the 7th. 
 

What we don’t have are any superstars….on both O and in our pitchers.  Can you win a WS that way? I don’t think so. I want another BIG bat and a top of the rotation guy. We should want both. It makes everyone better but it does cost serious coin. 

The hope was to extend Tucker and then sign a TOR SP to give them that guy on both ends, but now it's almost like last offseason where the thinking is that they might just look to add one big name player again and hope he can get them back into the playoffs. Likely why Bregman name keeps popping up

 

[Stratos]

Have to assume we add another SP, which would put Rea in the pen with Assad, but I'm also just going to assume 1 of our SP is basically always on the IL, so Rea or Assad are probably often in the rotation (or maybe Brown if he improves over this winter).

I'd like them to sign 2 more quality established pen arms, and the other 3 spots can be a competition between our internal guys and whatever upside dumpster guys they invite to ST.  That should leave some depth in case of 1-2 reliever injuries.

I'm curious to see what kind of year Boyd has in 2026 after the workload of 2025.

[Bull]

8 hours ago, Stratos said:

Have to assume we add another SP, which would put Rea in the pen with Assad, but I'm also just going to assume 1 of our SP is basically always on the IL, so Rea or Assad are probably often in the rotation (or maybe Brown if he improves over this winter).

I'd like them to sign 2 more quality established pen arms, and the other 3 spots can be a competition between our internal guys and whatever upside dumpster guys they invite to ST.  That should leave some depth in case of 1-2 reliever injuries.

I'm curious to see what kind of year Boyd has in 2026 after the workload of 2025.

If you add a SP you can assume one is always hurt and still not have Rea or Assad start as long as Steele comes off before another goes on.

Horton

Boyd 

Shota

Addition

Taillon

Steele (IL).

They really already have a full rotation assuming you trust Rea/Assad for a month and a half.

 

I'm starting to come around to the idea that they don't need a starter, they need impact and its fairly equal whether they add it at 3B, moving Shaw into one of the best utility men in the game, RF, making Caissie/Alcantara/Moises/Happ one of the best 4th outfielders/DH in the league, or SP making Taillon the best 6th man in the league/insurance in case one of Shota/Boyd is actually broken. No matter what you do you leave 2 areas of weakness on where 2 of Caissie/Alcantara/Moises/Assad/Birdsell/Shaw have to step up or be replaced at the deadline.

All that to say, this is a decent team with a lot of routes to make it a top team like they were last year.

But you have to add 5-8 WAR somewhere to replace Tucker. (or resign Tucker and hope for more progress from Assad/Birdsell/Shaw/PCA than you get decline from Happ/Shota/Byrd/Dansby.

 

Edited December 6, 2025 by Bull

[Stratos]

15 hours ago, Bull said:

If you add a SP you can assume one is always hurt and still not have Rea or Assad start as long as Steele comes off before another goes on.

Horton

Boyd 

Shota

Addition

Taillon

Steele (IL).

They really already have a full rotation assuming you trust Rea/Assad for a month and a half.

 

I'm starting to come around to the idea that they don't need a starter, they need impact and its fairly equal whether they add it at 3B, moving Shaw into one of the best utility men in the game, RF, making Caissie/Alcantara/Moises/Happ one of the best 4th outfielders/DH in the league, or SP making Taillon the best 6th man in the league/insurance in case one of Shota/Boyd is actually broken. No matter what you do you leave 2 areas of weakness on where 2 of Caissie/Alcantara/Moises/Assad/Birdsell/Shaw have to step up or be replaced at the deadline.

All that to say, this is a decent team with a lot of routes to make it a top team like they were last year.

But you have to add 5-8 WAR somewhere to replace Tucker. (or resign Tucker and hope for more progress from Assad/Birdsell/Shaw/PCA than you get decline from Happ/Shota/Byrd/Dansby.

 

Hard to say when Steele will be ready for MLB action.  I do think we could use another good SP, and hard to assume Steele will be good next year.  I think going into the season with exactly the same rotation would be a mistake.

If we have too many SP at the deadline that's a great problem, they could always trade one at the deadline instead of being buyers for SP.

I'm fine with Mo/Caissie/Long/Alcantara etc competing for the last spot at DH/RF.  Some platoon there will hopefully hit and we're not relying on 1 guy like we did Shaw last year.  I'd also be happy if they signed another quality bat, but the fit is less obvious.

[Bull]

7 hours ago, Stratos said:

Hard to say when Steele will be ready for MLB action.  I do think we could use another good SP, and hard to assume Steele will be good next year.  I think going into the season with exactly the same rotation would be a mistake.

If we have too many SP at the deadline that's a great problem, they could always trade one at the deadline instead of being buyers for SP.

I'm fine with Mo/Caissie/Long/Alcantara etc competing for the last spot at DH/RF.  Some platoon there will hopefully hit and we're not relying on 1 guy like we did Shaw last year.  I'd also be happy if they signed another quality bat, but the fit is less obvious.

Right, but you said Rea or Assad would be in the rotation because you assume one of our starters will always be on the IL, so let's sign two. I pointed out that if you only sign 1, you would need 2 to be on the IL (including Steele) for Rea or Assad to get a start. 

 

My point is, they don't need to sign two more starters. They need 1 more and the best one available. quality, not quantity.

Edited December 7, 2025 by Bull

[BigbadB]

While missing swinging bats with high velocity is a hot commodity, what about guys who do a great job of painting corners? Does the auto strike zone change the values of the available pitchers out there at all?

[Bull]

On 12/7/2025 at 8:20 AM, BigbadB said:

While missing swinging bats with high velocity is a hot commodity, what about guys who do a great job of painting corners? Does the auto strike zone change the values of the available pitchers out there at all?

More importantly, does Seiya's OBP jump 30 points?!

[mk49]

I think Seiya's OBP went up in Aug and Sep, when he was struggling.  

The next season will be the last with this Cubs era.  The core guys in the last few years were Dansby, Nico, Happ, Jamo, Seiya, Shota, Steele.....   Most of them might be gone after the next season.  I really like the current team, and they need to win next year.

Edited December 11, 2025 by mk49