Chicago Cubs Willing To Pay Luxury Tax in 2026

[Post Count Padder]

40 minutes ago, Cubs420psd said:

 

So if the Cubs sign Gallen, that leaves.

Horton

Boyd

Shota

Cabrera

Gallen

Tallion 

Steele

Rea

 That's 7 legit starters with an 8th guy who is also pretty decent. Not to mention Assad, Wicks and possibly Wiggins.

And in that situation, I don't see how someone doesn't get traded. Its just too much of a log jam. If Ricketts is really willing to commit to another 15-20 mil a year type player to this years roster I would almost rather have Jed try to find another bat or high leverage BP arm.

 

 

Yeah if we get Gallen then I expect Taillon and/or Rea to be dealt. Gallen is definitely not a need now but that rotation would have some serious potential. 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Stratos said:

I'm not a fan of a 6-nan rotation. 5 days (or 6 with an off-day) between starts is a lot if you want guys to remain sharp.  Rather they just limit the pitch count a bit and piggyback the odd man out in relief.  Would keep the pen fresher too.

Do you have stats to back up this claim that if they go to a 6 man staff guys won’t be sharp? I think guys do better with more rest, but I would say that as a statement of fact. Just curious if you do know guys pitch worse on longer rest, with stats to back it. 

[Rcal10]

4 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Yeah if we get Gallen then I expect Taillon and/or Rea to be dealt. Gallen is definitely not a need now but that rotation would have some serious potential. 

I think because they signed Rea they can’t trade him until June. I read that somewhere, but not sure if it is true. And I don’t think they will trade Taillon. 

[Neuby]

12 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I think because they signed Rea they can’t trade him until June. I read that somewhere, but not sure if it is true. And I don’t think they will trade Taillon. 

Rea is tradable before June 15 according to Arizona Phil because he was never technically a free agent if I recall correctly. 

[Illiterate Scholar]

I'm still a firm believer in Matt Shaw the baseball player, but if Jed is still looking for pitching, it makes a lot of sense to trade him to the Red Sox for one of their optionable pitchers. Like the Marlins before, the Red Sox match up very well for a trade on paper. We'll see if the Sox opt for Paredes instead.

 

 

[Rcal10]

40 minutes ago, Neuby said:

Rea is tradable before June 15 according to Arizona Phil because he was never technically a free agent if I recall correctly. 

Ok, cool. I must have read it wrong. I thought they comment trade him until after June 15th. Then if they got Gallen maybe Rea is traded. 

[mk49]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

I think because they signed Rea they can’t trade him until June. I read that somewhere, but not sure if it is true. And I don’t think they will trade Taillon. 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Cubs can trade Rea this off season.  They can't trade Shota, who accepted the QO, until June 15th.  Also, Jamo has 10 team no trade thing.

Personally, if they can afford Gallen, just pay more for Valdez.  I guess the Cubs think they can sign Gallen for about $16m AAV for 2 or 3 years.  If that's their budget, Valdez would be too much.

Edited January 20 by mk49

[Rcal10]

12 minutes ago, mk49 said:

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Cubs can trade Rea this off season.  They can't trade Shota, who accepted the QO, until June 15th.  Also, Jamo has 10 team no trade thing.

Personally, if they can afford Gallen, just pay more for Valdez.  I guess the Cubs think they can sign Gallen for about $16m AAV for 2 or 3 years.  If that's their budget, Valdez would be too much.

Where are you seeing that figure for Gallen? I would be shocked if signs for that little. I don’t think they have any interest in Valdez. They seem to want a certain type of character on the team. Valdez purposely crossing the catcher up on a pitch is not the character the Cubs are looking for, IMO. 

[chopsx9]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Do you have stats to back up this claim that if they go to a 6 man staff guys won’t be sharp? I think guys do better with more rest, but I would say that as a statement of fact. Just curious if you do know guys pitch worse on longer rest, with stats to back it. 

Not answering your question at all but have there been teams recently that have actually used 6 man rotations for an extended period?  I hear it discussed somewhat frequently but has any team actually implemented it?

[mk49]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Where are you seeing that figure for Gallen? I would be shocked if signs for that little. I don’t think they have any interest in Valdez. They seem to want a certain type of character on the team. Valdez purposely crossing the catcher up on a pitch is not the character the Cubs are looking for, IMO. 

Like I said, "I guess".  I understand what you said about Valdez, and I agree with you.  I haven't heard any Cubs - Valdez rumor.  It's all about Gallen lately.  But, I just think most likely, Valdez will help the team win more games than Gallen, and again "personally", I want Valdez more, if that's an option.

I would be surprised if the Cubs pay Gallen something like $25m AAV, and don't trade any SP.  I mean in a good way.

 

[mk49]

10 minutes ago, chopsx9 said:

Not answering your question at all but have there been teams recently that have actually used 6 man rotations for an extended period?  I hear it discussed somewhat frequently but has any team actually implemented it?

I think the Dodgers did last year, and it lasted only 2 months or so.  I could be wrong, though.

[Rcal10]

10 minutes ago, chopsx9 said:

Not answering your question at all but have there been teams recently that have actually used 6 man rotations for an extended period?  I hear it discussed somewhat frequently but has any team actually implemented it?

I don’t think any team did for an entire season. But teams did go to a 6 man rotation periodically during the year, last year. And then you have the Dodgers who just gave pitchers time off during the season. Maybe the Cubs wouldn’t go straight 6 man. Maybe they would skip a start by a pitcher. Maybe put a guy on the IL. Point is, if the Cubs did sign Gallen I don’t think they would trade Taillon. They would just have 6 starters. How they used them is anyone’s guess. 

[Neuby]

32 minutes ago, mk49 said:

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Cubs can trade Rea this off season.  They can't trade Shota, who accepted the QO, until June 15th.  Also, Jamo has 10 team no trade thing.

Personally, if they can afford Gallen, just pay more for Valdez.  I guess the Cubs think they can sign Gallen for about $16m AAV for 2 or 3 years.  If that's their budget, Valdez would be too much.

If Valdez's market is really down because of the bad teammate stigma, maybe the Cubs bet on the highest paid manager in the game and the Cubs clubhouse to negate that.

[mk49]

4 minutes ago, Neuby said:

If Valdez's market is really down because of the bad teammate stigma, maybe the Cubs bet on the highest paid manager in the game and the Cubs clubhouse to negate that.

I heard what Valdez did last year, but I don't know much about him.  They could ask Bregman to see how bad he actually is.

Edited January 20 by mk49

[Rcal10]

13 minutes ago, mk49 said:

I heard what Valdez did last year, but I don't know much about him.  They could ask Bregman to see how bad he actually is.

Cubs have not been linked to him all off season. Valdez isn’t coming here, IMO. 

[mk49]

6 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Cubs have not been linked to him all off season. Valdez isn’t coming here, IMO. 

Yeah, I hear you.  It was just my fantasy league talk.

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Do you have stats to back up this claim that if they go to a 6 man staff guys won’t be sharp? I think guys do better with more rest, but I would say that as a statement of fact. Just curious if you do know guys pitch worse on longer rest, with stats to back it. 

No I don't.  We know guys pitch worse on 3 vs 4 days.  I don't have the stats on 5 or 6 days rest.  Do you?

We could easily see even with a 5 man rotation about 5 days rest effectiveness when there's an off days between starts. 

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Post Count Padder said:

Yeah if we get Gallen then I expect Taillon and/or Rea to be dealt. Gallen is definitely not a need now but that rotation would have some serious potential. 

I believe ZiPS projections has the Cubs rotation currently ranked 19th in MLB in WAR.  We definitely could use an upgrade somewhere.

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Ok, cool. I must have read it wrong. I thought they comment trade him until after June 15th. Then if they got Gallen maybe Rea is traded. 

I believe they extended Rea with a restructured deal in Nov with a club option for 2027.  Would be bad business practice to immediately trade him.  He's good value too so hard to see them trading him.

I think they could wait for when Steele comes back if they want to trade someone.  Better to have too many SP than to be buyers at the deadline again. 

Edited January 20 by Stratos

[mk49]

31 minutes ago, Stratos said:

I believe ZiPS projections has the Cubs rotation currently ranked 19th in MLB in WAR.  We definitely could use an upgrade somewhere.

The question is who should we sign?  Signing Gallen would probably make it 18th or 17th in the ranking (even if we keep Jamo and Rea, because they probably only value 5 SP's).  All the guys I want like Peralta, Joe Ryan... aren't very realistic.  

I'm not saying they shouldn't sign Gallen.  But, if they have to pick either Gallen or Jamo/Rea, I would rather keep Jamo and Rea.  It'll be interesting to see what the Cubs can do to Gallen, though.  I know it's too late to say this, but if the Cubs are really trying to sign Gallen now, they should have signed Imai or King, trade for Cabrera and sign Bregman.  Gallen and Imai are close enough in AAV, I would think.  Again, it's too late.

Edited January 20 by mk49

[mk49]

23 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Better to have too many SP than to be buyers at the deadline again. 

Agree 100%.

That said, if we can trade Jamo (or somebody) and Brown/Assad/Wicks for Mason Miller, that would help a lot.  I know the Padres don't have enough SP.

Edited January 20 by mk49

[mk49]

OK, I admit I'm a little drunk now, but I just thought it's kind of funny to talk about signing somebody that we really don't need, like we're the Dodgers.  I mean our rotation is already better than the last year (yeah, only difference is Horton from the beginning, Steele coming back, Cabrera and the guys got 1 yr older), and we're still talking about adding Gallen.  We could have lived without signing Bregman, but we got him.  That's very cool, indeed. 

A little seriously, PCA could learn a lot from Bregman during the WBC.  They should be talking a lot.

Edited January 20 by mk49

[Geographyhater8888]

11 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

I don’t think any team did for an entire season. But teams did go to a 6 man rotation periodically during the year, last year. And then you have the Dodgers who just gave pitchers time off during the season. Maybe the Cubs wouldn’t go straight 6 man. Maybe they would skip a start by a pitcher. Maybe put a guy on the IL. Point is, if the Cubs did sign Gallen I don’t think they would trade Taillon. They would just have 6 starters. How they used them is anyone’s guess. 

If you’re going over the LT then they missed out on Devin Williams who’d legitimately make the team better. Signing Gallen for injuty insurance and or just to swap him with Tailon is just reshuffling a rotation full of number 4 starting pitchers. 
Valdez would legitimately make the rotation better but it’s already been discussed that the Cubs wouldn’t view him as a locker room fit.
 

Edited January 20 by Geographyhater8888

[thawv]

On 1/18/2026 at 2:23 PM, Rcal10 said:

So then you are suggesting they are set? That is pretty much my view too. But when people suggest they need another bat, I can only see Alcantara as the spot to upgrade. I don’t agree they need to add an everyday bat. This discussion is about the Cubs adding more. Which is the only reason I suggested a bench bat. I just don’t see them adding elsewhere. I would rather add a bench bat then replace Mo in the lineup. However, I am actually fine with them not doing anything for now. 

They could DFA Austin, as Kevin plays all 3 OF spots and is the only backup for PCA in the system.  Alcantara has already started and played 2 full seasons in AAA.  I don't see any scenario that he's back there again to start the season.  I only know of 1 consensus top 100 prospect to start 3 consecutive seasons in AAA, and that's Delmon Young. 

Edited January 20 by thawv

[thawv]

On 1/18/2026 at 4:11 PM, Rcal10 said:

I’ve been suggesting Gallen for some time. But I always assume they then trade Taillon. I actually like the idea of signing him and going 6 man until Steele comes back. If everyone is still healthy you then worry about trading one of them. TBH, if all are healthy they could use Horton in the pen a little to limit his innings. Or do a Dodger thing with the pitchers. Give them all time off during the season. Yep, for me, Gallen does make sense. I think the offense is fine. 

I'm good with this.  But if anybody's innings should be limited its Steele's.  They should be adding innings to Horton.  Not reducing them.   Maybe Steele sees some time in the pen to ease him back.  If he continues to show that he just doesn't have the durability to be a SP, maybe he goes to the pen full time.  I know, he's not going to be on board with that though.