You're The Cubs GM! Plotting My Offseason: Apparently, I Shouldn't Trade Seiya Suzuki

This series of articles is a primer for the release of our new "You're The Cubs GM!" tool, where you play the role of Jed Hoyer and build your own Cubs offseason. Please visit the tool here and join in on the fun!

Well, everyone, it’s my first day on the job running baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs. First things first: man, it’s nice not to have Jed Hoyer around, right? I mean, I’m no Theo Esptein, but neither is that guy. Remember when he traded World Series hero Anthony Rizzo for Kevin Alcántara and a guy who stopped playing baseball immediately after? Good times.

Anyway, the team has finished 83-79 in back-to-back years and fell short of making the postseason both times. In fact, the Cubs haven’t made the playoffs since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and haven’t won a playoff game in seven years. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Up top, let’s establish who the surefire keepers are on this roster and the salaries they’ll run us in 2025. Justin Steele ($6.4 million) and Shota Imanaga ($13.5 million) are a great 1-2 punch atop the rotation, and that pair of lefty starters isn’t going anywhere. Javier Assad ($800,000) has erupted since moving to the rotation at the end of the 2023 season, and given that he isn’t even arbitration-eligible until 2026, he’s sticking around. I’d also like to keep Jordan Wicks ($800,000) and Ben Brown ($800,000) around as starting pitching depth, and a couple of cheap options in the bullpen, like Tyson Miller ($800,000), Porter Hodge ($800,000), and Julian Merryweather ($1.225 million). And since I have an affinity for big lefties who throw 100 MPH and don’t give up home runs, I guess I’ll keep Luke Little ($800,000) in tow, too.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how I’m keeping track of all this, North Side Baseball has an exceptionally intuitive payroll tracker for the Cubs that you can alter to your heart’s content. Anyone can use it to see what moves the team can make while remaining under budget. Honestly, I’m really glad it’s there to keep armchair GMs distracted. Otherwise, my job security would not be looking too hot.

Back to the topic, I also have a few guys on the position-player side of things whom I want to keep. Miguel Amaya ($800,000) and Michael Busch ($800,000) are steals at their respective salaries, though we will need to add a partner at catcher for the former. (Er, a better one than Matt Thaiss.) I love Nico Hoerner ($11.5 million) and his elite glove and speed, and Dansby Swanson’s contract ($28 million) makes him untradable, so the middle infield isn’t getting a shakeup. Isaac Paredes ($6.9 million) was just added by my predecessor at last season’s trade deadline. His success track record is intriguing enough to avoid wanting to sell low on him. In the outfield, Ian Happ ($21 million), Pete Crow-Armstrong ($800,000), and the recently opted-in Cody Bellinger ($27.5 million) are all locks for starting jobs in 2025 and should form an incredible defensive outfield triumvirate—assuming course, that Bellinger isn't dealt.

That leaves Seiya Suzuki ($19 million) as the odd man out, though thankfully, in response to an article I wrote last week discussing his status on the Cubs, I received numerous very polite and constructive comments informing me that I shouldn’t trade a hitter whose OPS has improved in every single season since he came Stateside. If only I had said something exactly to that effect multiple times in the article. Thank goodness the people who kindly decide to personally message me about what a dolt I also have the time to read the entire article instead of just the headline. So, Suzuki will be staying and hopefully joining Imanaga to lure Roki Sasaki to the good half of the Windy City (though I won't project that here).

My predecessor got the expulsion of Nick Madrigal and Patrick Wisdom right. I would have kept Mike Tauchman, the Platonic ideal of the fourth outfielder, but that call broke the other way.

To recap where we’re at: we have every position accounted for, except a second catcher and a starting third baseman (yes, in the last two sentences, I’ve decided to overrule Counsell and plant Paredes on the bench until he starts hitting again), and two more bench bats. On the pitching side, we’ve got three starters penciled in, plus a competition for the fifth spot in the rotation between Wicks, Brown, and probably Cade Horton. In the bullpen, we’ve got four relievers that are staying, and I’ll throw the rejuvenated Keegan Thompson ($1 million) a bone and hold onto him as a long-man.

That means Wisdom, Madrigal, Jameson Taillon, Caleb Killian, Nate Pearson, and Ethan Roberts are all gone. Almost all of those guys can be traded for something, though let’s pretend that I’m a prospect mogul and don’t bring anyone back to the big league roster for ease. That leaves our projected 2025 payroll at $150.8 million, roughly 30% below my top range of $220 million.

Thankfully, the payroll tracker has suggested guidelines for each notable free agent’s salary, which means they have to accept that number if I want them to. I don’t have to do any negotiating (I fold in negotiations like Batman when he gets his back broken by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises).

I’m first giving the Brewers a huge F-U for the second consecutive offseason and signing Willy Adames ($26.60 million) as my starting third baseman. His power and previously elite defensive metrics make him a heck of a consolation prize for my soon-to-fail pursuit of Juan Soto (I already know he will NOT be laughing at my jokes about Aaron Judge using the juice). I’ll also snag Kyle Higashioka ($7.50 million), coming off a career year, to serve as another veteran mentor for Amaya behind the dish.

That leaves just one utility/bench spot left, and you better believe I’m giving it to top prospect Matt Shaw ($800,000). I don’t care if he bats .051 in spring training. He’s making the team out of camp.

On the pitching side, I’ll assume that the loser of the Wicks-Brown battle goes to the bullpen, with Horton remaining in Triple-A, lurking as a potential mid-season call-up. I’ll also give Hayden Wesneski ($800,000) another crack at a swingman job because I think his sweeper is fun to watch. I know what you’re thinking, and I agree: amazingly, I never landed a GM job before this.

So, with about $30 million in payroll left to spend one spot in the rotation and the bullpen open, I’ll sign Max Fried ($26.0 million) to serve as the third lefty ace in the rotation. To preserve some payroll space for any in-season additions, I’ll add a league minimum salary in Daniel Palencia ($800,000) to round out the ‘pen.

Hence, I have crafted a championship-caliber roster while remaining under budget AND adding some prospect depth to the farm system. This, folks, is why they pay me the small bucks. You can see my entire offseason roadmap here.

As a reminder, you can engage in this same endeavor using the NSBB payroll tracker here. Be sure to post your offseason blueprint to the forums so our community members can discuss it!

What do you think of this offseason plan? Do you think you can do better? Then build your own Cubs roster and hit the button below!

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