6 Suitors for Matt Shaw, and the Players Cubs Might Target in Trades with Them

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Although the Cubs aren't actively looking to trade Nico Hoerner or Matt Shaw after signing Alex Bregman, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer admitted at Bregman's introductory press conference that interest in both Shaw and Hoerner has increased in the last few days—or, at least, that teams have felt emboldened to call about the two. Hoerner has garnered plenty of trade interest in the past, and Shaw was a key part of the demand from the Nationals when the Cubs took an interest in MacKenzie Gore.

Chicago doesn't need to move Hoerner's salary; they have permission from ownership to stay above the first competitive-balance tax threshold this season. Nor are they obliged to trade Shaw, who can serve as a roving utility man or be optioned back to Triple-A Iowa. Undeniably, though, the chances of one of the two ending up elsewhere rose when Bregman signed, and although Hoerner makes a better headline-grabber, it's Shaw whom the Cubs would be happier to move, given the right return.

What is the right return? Given that Shaw still has six years of team control remaining—he didn't get to a full year of service time for 2025, after he had to be demoted to the minors early in the season—it shouldn't be cheap. Chicago expects a pitcher who can contribute to their aspirations to make another run deep into the postseason in 2026, according to sources in two front offices who have had discussions with the team this week, and they'd also ask for a lower-level prospect to reinvigorate their farm system.

Here are the six teams who most obviously match up with Chicago on a potential Shaw trade, and a brief rundown of the pitchers who could check that first, biggest box in a deal.

Boston Red Sox
After trades for Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo and the signing of Ranger Suárez, the Red Sox are flush with pitching depth. If the season started tomorrow, they'd have a rotation of Garrett Crochet, Gray, Suárez, Oviedo, and Brayan Bello, which leaves top prospects Payton Tolle and Connolly Early out in the cold. Kutter Crawford missed all of 2025 after knee and wrist surgery, but should be a full go come spring training, and they signed Patrick Sandoval for the privilege of waiting out his rehab so they can put him into the mix this spring after modified Tommy John surgery in 2024.

Bello is a good young pitcher, but not a frontline guy, and the team-friendly extension to which the team signed him has so much meat left on the bone (four years, $50.5 million, with an option for 2030 that would earn him another $20 million) that the Cubs might be wary of taking it on. Crawford is an interesting arm with three years of club control left, but in order to accept him as the pitching help in a Shaw deal, Hoyer would have to get a pretty good second piece, which is unlikely. Tolle or Early would be a great return for Shaw, allowing the Sox to fill the hole left in their infield by their failure to re-sign Bregman while netting the Cubs a high-upside left-handed hurler. That would be a fun challenge trade—but Boston covets the depth and flexibility both lefties provide.

Kansas City Royals
We talked about the Royals as a landing spot on Thursday, with specific mention of Kris Bubic, a plug-and-play southpaw starter. However, Bubic has just one year of team control left and a shaky track record when it comes to durability. The Cubs would push hard to land one of Noah Cameron, Luinder Avila, Ryan Bergert or Stephen Kolek (each of whom come with at least five years of team control and can be optioned to the minors) instead. Bergert and Kolek, whom Kansas City got from the Padres in July's Freddy Fermin trade, are the names to watch most closely.

Minnesota Twins
Another AL Central team loaded with compelling arms, the Twins have two famous aces (Pablo López and Joe Ryan) who make plenty of sense as targets for the Cubs. However, neither is available right now. That could change in the summer, but if the Cubs prefer to strike while the iron is hot and get long-term control of a starter in return for Shaw, Zebby Matthews, David Festa, Mick Abel, Taj Bradley and Connor Prielipp all make sense. Shaw would slide right in as the presumptive second baseman in Minnesota, with superior hitter but defensive clod Luke Keaschall moving to the outfield. Of the five pitchers named there, all but Bradley (4) have at least five years of club control left, and all can be optioned to the minors. Prielipp is probably a reliever, but would instantly become the highest-upside southpaw in the Cubs pen.

San Francisco Giants
This fit is not as tidy. The Giants badly want Hoerner or Shaw, but don't have much the Cubs want in return, save for things San Francisco can ill afford to trade. They do have a passel of back-end starters with long-term team and cost control, including Landen Roupp, Carson Whisenhunt, Hayden Birdsong and Keaton Winn. To part with Shaw, though, the Cubs would want someone with more upside or a stronger track record than any of those four possess. Unless Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey is willing to do something unexpected (and a bit foolish), a deal between these two sides is unlikely.

Tampa Bay Rays
After trading Brandon Lowe earlier this winter and acquiring Gavin Lux (ostensibly to play second base) Thursday, the Rays have a very thin, very ugly depth chart around the horn. Shaw would solve some problems for them, and he fits their mold in some key respects, offensively. He'd be a huge defensive upgrade for a group that could feature the plodding Junior Caminero at third base, the better-in-left field Lux at second and the oversized Carson Williams at shortstop on many days.

To get Shaw, though, the Rays would have to send the Cubs one of Shane McClanahan, Edwin Uceta or Griffin Jax. McClanahan is an ace-caliber lefty starter at his best, but has been sidelined by injuries for a year and a half. Uceta has four years of team control left and blossomed as the Rays' relief ace last year, while Jax came over in a trade with Minnesota at the deadline and has two years of team control remaining. Jax is also a candidate to move to the starting rotation, though perhaps not until 2027. This could be the highest-impact set of pitcher targets for the Cubs, though they come with shorter terms of team control than some of the hurlers the team would target in deals with other clubs interested in Shaw.

Washington Nationals
The Cubs were reluctant to include Shaw in a trade for Gore last winter, or at the deadline in July. However, his value to them has dropped since then, and Gore's value has diminished enough that the Nationals can no longer credibly demand both Shaw and Cade Horton for him. A deal for Gore centered on Shaw would vault the Cubs well into the lead in projected NL Central standings for 2026, though it would require them to backfill their infield and could mean throwing in a player in addition to Shaw. 

The name of the game, if the team does trade their 2023 first-round pick, is to augment the 2026 roster without sacrificing long-term value. Moving Shaw would raise the stakes of the team's attempts to keep Hoerner around beyond the end of his current contract after this season, so it would need to save them some money at the end of the decade by adding controllable, cost-effective pitching to their roster. They might not be able to thread that needle—but plenty of teams would love to work with them in the endeavor.

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[DK1230]

After going through a season of Gage Workman, Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan, Nicky Lopez and Willi Castro, following a season of Miles Mastrobuoni, Nick Madrigal, David Bote and Luiz Vazquez....the Cubs are not trading Matt Shaw.

[Rcal10]

The article points to exactly the type of trades the Cubs should consider for Shaw. Young starting pitching. They can add a bench bat before spring if they did deal Shaw. If they got a staring pitcher they wouldn’t have to pay for one next year so maybe they resign Hoerner, or just spend that money on offense. 
I am not suggesting they trade Shaw. Just saying if they did that would be the way to go about it. 

[TruthisaPerson]

Too many are too eager to trade Shaw for non baseball reasons. I find that disappointing. He should NOT be traded and this headline for this piece stirs the pot. That is also disappointing. 

You need a versatile player on the bench. As others have said, Berti and his ilk were not the answer last season. I was a huge advocate for acquiring Willi Castro, but he never found his footing as a Cub. Keep Shaw. He's  an excellent defender and base runner and the bat will only get better. The price is right and he's  home grown.

[Jason Ross]

33 minutes ago, TruthisaPerson said:

Too many are too eager to trade Shaw for non baseball reasons. I find that disappointing. He should NOT be traded and this headline for this piece stirs the pot. That is also disappointing. 

You need a versatile player on the bench. As others have said, Berti and his ilk were not the answer last season. I was a huge advocate for acquiring Willi Castro, but he never found his footing as a Cub. Keep Shaw. He's  an excellent defender and base runner and the bat will only get better. The price is right and he's  home grown.

There are plenty of baseball reasons to consider Shaw. He's a fine baseball player now, but his batted ball data wasn't great on the season. Part of that is because high contact players have mediocre batted ball data, but his defense may be overblown by DRS (OAA didn't love him as much) and getting a Peyton Tolle isn't like you're selling him short - Toille is nasty and he's the kind of guy you want in your org. 

You can find backup infielders far more often than you can than Tolle, for example. The price on Shaw should be exorbitant, but with Bichette and Tucker off the board, teams have little in the way of starting infielders to consider. 

[squally1313]

Jon Berti, Willi Castro, and Justin Turner were all better hitters in 2024 than Matt Shaw was in 2025, so not sure why he's this automatic fix to this (completely overblown) bench problem. And even if he is, and even if we're somehow cursed to never find productive backups again, if the alternative is getting an immediate front line starter or a top pitching prospect, I'm still thinking really hard about the latter option. 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, TruthisaPerson said:

Too many are too eager to trade Shaw for non baseball reasons. I find that disappointing. He should NOT be traded and this headline for this piece stirs the pot. That is also disappointing. 

You need a versatile player on the bench. As others have said, Berti and his ilk were not the answer last season. I was a huge advocate for acquiring Willi Castro, but he never found his footing as a Cub. Keep Shaw. He's  an excellent defender and base runner and the bat will only get better. The price is right and he's  home grown.

No one responding here is suggesting the Cubs trade Shaw for any other reason than to make their team better. I don’t want him traded just to get him off the team. But there are definitely some players listed in the article that I would trade Shaw for, because if strictly baseball reasons. I am also fine if they keep him and he is a utility player. 

[KCCub]

I'm a McClanahan fanboy so I do that in an absolute heartbeat if he's on the table. I then try to risk it and extend him in hopes his injury history nets you 5 or so years at a lower AAV than he would get once he's proven to be fully healthy. The other part of this is you absolutely have to get an extension done with Nico if Shaw is gone. Having a bench super utility guy is a nice luxury this season, but it's way down my list of priorities.  

[PVG]

This  article once again highlights the common desire for the Cubs to acquire "top-line" pitching, but I would argue the data points to a much different priority. The Cubs already have 7 or 8 viable starters and anyhow, pitching was not the primary reason for the Cubs' struggles in 2025.
A surface-level look at Cubs'  full-season averages (4.90 R/G scored vs. 4.01 R/G allowed, league avg=4.45)   suggests a perfectly balanced team. However, the season was really a tale of two distinct halves:
Pre-All-Star (96 Games): The offense was dominant, scoring 5.33 R/G against a league average of 4.38.
Post-All-Star (66 Games): The offense collapsed to 4.26 R/G (below the 4.56 league average), while the pitching actually improved to a stellar 3.88 R/G allowed.
The second-half offensive drought can be traced to key injuries and specific regressions, e.g.   Kyle Tucker, the catching duo, and Pete Crow-Armstrong. PCA  saw his OPS drop from .846 in the first half to a nearly unplayable .634 in the second. His season-long struggle against left-handed pitching (.593 OPS) highlights a dire need for a right-handed centerfield platoon partner.
While Alex Bregman’s arrival is a significant boost over Matt Shaw, one player alone may not bridge the gap back to a 5-run-per-game average. If the front office focuses on offensive consistency rather than redundant pitching, the math is in our favor: pairing 5.0 R/G with our current pitching staff yields a 98-win Pythagorean expectation.
The pitching is fine; it's time to ensure the bats show up for all 162 games.

(All metrics ared based on Retrosheet data; all errors are mine.) 

[Banks-Williams]

Well … the Cubs could sign Justin Turner for another season.  He would not cost much, and he can sit in for Busch against lefties.  Turner did bat 276 against them with a 769 OPS to boot.  And he did come through in the clutch with a couple of walk offs.  He’s the kind of guy young players like PCA enjoy talking to in the dugout and after work.  His fielding was good too.

But “Houston, we have a problem” with. bringing Turner back into the fold now.  The newly signed third baseman,  who played with Houston in 2017, seemingly stole Turner’s World Series ring from him.  

Turner stood in the dirt by 3rd base in his Dodgers’ uniform when Bregman was batting with foreknowledge of the oncoming Dodger pitches.  Houston was breaking the rules with their sophisticated sign stealing system.  Although Turner was  the NLCS co-MVP, he wasn’t going to earn such in the World Series since Houston took it in 4 games, all won in Houston.  

Having Bregman occupying the dugout and clubhouse with Turner around probably would be awkward to say the least.  Same would go for bringing Bellinger back to the Northside, particularly since Bellinger has been outspoken about the theft.  Both Bellinger and Turner were starters for the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.

If either of these two gentlemen were to wear the Cubs uniform in 2026, perhaps Bregman could make amends by issuing a public apology and by giving them his WS ring.  Well … I guess he could do so in any case.  But he seems like the kind of guy who wants to pretend it didn’t happen so everyone will forget.

Edited January 17 by Banks-Williams
Correct typo

[Arlen]

I can see trading Hoerner and moving Shaw to 2B, but if I had to pick a better 3B-man for the Cubs from 2026 onward, my pick would be Shaw vs. Bregman. 

[Rcal10]

On 1/16/2026 at 4:54 PM, Banks-Williams said:

Well … the Cubs could sign Justin Turner for another season.  He would not cost much, and he can sit in for Busch against lefties.  Turner did bat 276 against them with a 769 OPS to boot.  And he did come through in the clutch with a couple of walk offs.  He’s the kind of guy young players like PCA enjoy talking to in the dugout and after work.  His fielding was good too.

But “Houston, we have a problem” with. bringing Turner back into the fold now.  The newly signed third baseman,  who played with Houston in 2017, seemingly stole Turner’s World Series ring from him.  

Turner stood in the dirt by 3rd base in his Dodgers’ uniform when Bregman was batting with foreknowledge of the oncoming Dodger pitches.  Houston was breaking the rules with their sophisticated sign stealing system.  Although Turner was  the NLCS co-MVP, he wasn’t going to earn such in the World Series since Houston took it in 4 games, all won in Houston.  

Having Bregman occupying the dugout and clubhouse with Turner around probably would be awkward to say the least.  Same would go for bringing Bellinger back to the Northside, particularly since Bellinger has been outspoken about the theft.  Both Bellinger and Turner were starters for the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.

If either of these two gentlemen were to wear the Cubs uniform in 2026, perhaps Bregman could make amends by issuing a public apology and by giving them his WS ring.  Well … I guess he could do so in any case.  But he seems like the kind of guy who wants to pretend it didn’t happen so everyone will forget.

WOW, you are really doubling down on nonsense. So now you are sad we have Bregman because that means we can’t sign Turner? Seriously you have to be a troll. 

Edited January 18 by Rcal10

[Banks-Williams]

On 1/18/2026 at 4:19 PM, Rcal10 said:

WOW, you are really doubling down on nonsense. So now you are sad we have Bregman because that means we can’t sign Turner? Seriously you have to be a troll. 

Dude — you really need to learn some reading comprehension.  I never said what you claim I said.  Not even close.  And it is impossible for you to know my emotions.  So your little post is what is complete nonsense.

[Rcal10]

11 hours ago, Banks-Williams said:

Dude — you really need to learn some reading comprehension.  I never said what you claim I said.  Not even close.  And it is impossible for you to know my emotions.  So your little post is what is complete nonsense.

Ok, so what did you say? Did you say the Cubs could bring back Turner, but because of Bregman, that would be a problem? I mean we all can read what you posted. Sure sounds that way. So suggesting Turner would be a good guy to sign but now they can’t because Bregman is in the team, isn’t that doubling down on your nonsense of not liking Bregman because he cheated 7 years ago? 
If I am wrong about what you are trying to say, please enlighten me. What is your point about Turner? 

[Banks-Williams]

3 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Ok, so what did you say? Did you say the Cubs could bring back Turner, but because of Bregman, that would be a problem? I mean we all can read what you posted. Sure sounds that way. So suggesting Turner would be a good guy to sign but now they can’t because Bregman is in the team, isn’t that doubling down on your nonsense of not liking Bregman because he cheated 7 years ago? 
If I am wrong about what you are trying to say, please enlighten me. What is your point about Turner? 

My point is that when you hire a thief like Bregman, it curtails your options. Turner and Bellinger were no longer options to hire because they are the victims of Bregman et al.’s theft.   There are many other players who were hurt by the 2017 to 2019 games against Houston, particularly those on the Dodgers and Yankees.  I particularly would have liked to have seen Bellinger return to Chicago since Tucker went elsewhere. 
 

There are also players who would not have wanted Bregman on their team, particularly star players who rip off their fellow MLB players.  I don’t think Horrner, Swanson, PCA, Happ, or Suzuki are happy he came aboard. Hoyer and Counsell didn’t seem to think this one through. Cora didn’t care cause he was the leader of the cheaters. Bregman should have stayed in Boston or returned to Houston like fellow cheater Corea.

Edited February 2 by Banks-Williams

[Rcal10]

12 minutes ago, Banks-Williams said:

My point is that when you hire a thief like Bregman, it curtails your options. Turner and Bellinger were no longer options to hire because they are the victims of Bregman et al.’s theft.   There are many other players who were hurt by the 2017 to 2019 games against Houston, particularly those on the Dodgers and Yankees.  I particularly would have liked to have seen Bellinger return to Chicago since Tucker went elsewhere. 
 

There are also players who would not have wanted Bregman on their team, particularly star players who rip off their fellow MLB players.  I don’t think Horrner, Swanson, PCA, Happ, or Suzuki are happy he came aboard. Hoyer and Counsell didn’t seem to think this one through. Cora didn’t care cause he was the leader of the cheaters. Bregman should have stayed in Boston or returned to Houston like fellow cheater Corea.

You don’t “think” those Cubs want him. Of course you have no knowledge of this being true. You are using your opinion of a player and putting it on others. My “guess” is all the players on the Cubs are very happy to have Bregman. He is a better fit than Bellinger, who I also liked. Honestly, have you read anything about a player on the Cubs being disappointed he was on the team? I haven’t. How about focusing in on the good Bregman brings to the team. He is very much a student of the game and loves baseball. He has been a guy who constantly helps players on the team and takes interest in all of them. He is exactly the type of guy the Cubs gravitate to. Instead of this constant narrative of Bregman being the worst human in baseball because he was on a team who cheated, maybe focus on the good of Bregman. He is a great teammate and a damn good ballplayers. Many Red Sox players spoke out about what a great teammate he was and how he will be missed in the clubhouse as well as on the field.