Cubs Avoid Arbitration with Justin Steele, Edward Cabrera, and Javier Assad

[Maddie Landis]

Image courtesy of © Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Major League Baseball’s arbitration-deadline day falls on an otherwise sleepy Thursday in early January, but it’s one of the busiest transaction days in the sport. Arbitration-eligible players and their teams had until 8:00 pm ET to agree to a one-year contract. I go into a little more detail about baseball’s arbitration process here, but here’s a quick TL;DR: 

If players and their organizations didn’t agree to contracts by the deadline, they’re required to file numbers and potentially present their arguments. Per the collective bargaining agreement, this is referred to as the exchange date, which falls the day after the deadline. However, both parties can settle before their hearing. Last year, you might recall the Chicago Cubs and Kyle Tucker filed $15 million and $17.5 million, respectively. Six days after the exchange date, the Cubs and Kyle Tucker agreed to a one-year, $16.5 million deal.

This year, the Cubs avoided a kerfuffle, coming to agreements with their three arbitration-eligible players on Thursday.

Early in the afternoon, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reported that Cubs southpaw Justin Steele agreed to a one-year, $6.775 million contract. For a professional baseball player, Steele’s salary is a modest raise. He earned $6.55 million in 2025, although he only pitched in four games due to a “revision repair” of his left ulnar collateral ligament. Steele posted a 4.76 ERA, 17.6% K-BB%, 4.94 FIP, and 0.0 WAR across 22 2/3 innings in 2025. When healthy, Steele is a dominant pitcher. In 2023, he went 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA (6th), 19.6% K-BB%, 3.02 FIP (5th), and 4.8 fWAR (9th), finishing fifth in National League Cy Young Award voting. Entering his age-30 season, Steele's return time and role in the rotation are up in the air.   Skipper Craig Counsell anticipates the Cubs will have a better idea of his return date come spring training: “I really don’t want to speculate until we get to spring training… I think we'll know in spring training, kind of a target area or date.” Steele has one remaining year of arbitration before entering free agency in 2028.

Thursday evening, Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported that the Cubs and Edward Cabrera agreed to a $4.45 million contract, an increase from his $1.95 million salary in 2025. Preceding his first year of arbitration, Cabrera had a breakout season. He went 8-7, posting a 3.53 ERA, 17.6% K-BB%, 3.83 FIP, and 2.0 fWAR, a career high across 137.2 innings pitched. Though he has an extensive injury history, his underlying metrics indicate he has the potential to be a front-of-the-rotation starter with further development. Cabrera turns 28 in April and has three remaining years of team control.

While I was unwinding before bed, Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times broke that the Cubs and Javier Assad agreed to a $1.8 million contract. Assad was eligible for arbitration for the first time this year. He holds a career 18-12 record with a 3.43 ERA, 9.6% K-BB%, 4.46 FIP, and 2.7 fWAR across 331.0 innings pitched.  An oblique injury limited him to just eight games in 2025. Nonetheless, his performance was solid, posting a 3.65 ERA. As @Brandon Glick noted, Assad doesn’t have the flashiest stuff, but still manages to outperform his expected stats.

Following these agreements, the Cubs' 2026 40-man CBT payroll sits at $211.55 million, which is $32.44 million under the first CBT threshold. Looking to upgrade their lineup, they remain in the mix for Alex Bregman and Bo Bichette.

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