Cubs "Can Spend as Much as They Want" to Supplement Roster at Deadline, But Will That Matter?

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Before this season, Jed Hoyer and the rest of the front office secured permission from the Cubs' ownership group to spend beyond the first threshold of the competitive-balance tax, in order to sign Alex Bregman. Now, after injuries to the pitching staff threatened to derail their season, ownership has doubled down, according a team source.

The Cubs can "spend whatever they want" as they hunt for upgrades to the roster over the next six days, according to a source briefed on the team's plans and discussions between ownership and baseball operations leaders. If Hoyer and Carter Hawkins eventually decide to make a move that would result in a major payroll increase, they would still circle back to Tom Ricketts and others to inform them of the plan, but the team has made room in its budget to bolster a roster that badly needs reinforcement.

Right now, the Cubs sit halfway between the first and second thresholds of the competitive-balance tax ladder, according to Cot's Contracts, which projects their CBT payroll number to be around $254 million. The first threshold is $244 million; the second is at $264 million. The only increase in penalties for surpassing the second threshold, though, is a slightly larger surcharge on expenditures beyond that $264 million number. Other penalties (like receiving worse draft picks in return for departing free agents and repeater penalties if the team is over the threshold again in 2027) are unaffected by whether or not they exceed any secondary thresholds.

Though long-range planning conversations do occasionally happen between Hoyer and ownership figures including Tom Ricketts and team president Crane Kenney, the same source indicated that no firm answer has been established as to whether the team will be allowed to exceed the tax threshold again in 2027. Any deal that brings in a player with a locked-in salary for that year will have to fit "into the broader plan," according to another source, but the Cubs have ample room to maneuver as they look toward the winter.

Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd all have eight-figure salaries that come off the books this fall. The team will have to replace a lot of talent via free agency and trades, because their farm system isn't ready to backfill such heavy losses, but the team views this week as an opportunity to get a head start on that very work. By trading for a player (or two) under team control beyond this year, they hope to check one or more boxes off their offseason shopping list, gaining cost certainty and a planning advantage heading into a winter that will be disrupted by a lockout.

This marks a minor departure from this winter, when the club was very focused on 2026 and some could-be trade partners felt they were assigning little value to 2027 and 2028 in their negotiations. It's possible that the extensions to which they signed Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong this spring shifted the team's thinking, and that Crow-Armstrong's emergence as a superstar capable of carrying a team into October has altered their ambitions for the medium-term future.

Having this freedom to spend gives the team some flexibility in the days ahead. In deals for starters like Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Sandy Alcantara or Robbie Ray, one way the team could reduce the prospect cost would be to absorb the whole of those players' remaining salaries. Knowing they can spend more than $10 million for the balance of the year if needed also makes it much easier to bring in multiple players. Relievers Antonio Senzatela ($12 million) and Luke Weaver ($9.5 million) have substantial salaries this year and would still be owed a few million apiece when acquired; having spending room means such players still fit into a plan even after prioritizing a starter.

Again, players (like Lugo, Wacha and Weaver) with 2027 obligations are slightly more complicated cases, but because so much money is coming off the Cubs' books, the team should be able to take on at least one such deal without flinching. All will depend on their evaluations of those players and their ability to help the team, of course, but it's good to know that money won't stand in the way of a valuable short-term upgrade.