Now that the Chicago Cubs are out of the playoff picture, the focus shifts fast to the roster that will carry them into the next phase. The front office has a messy winter ahead, with 10 players from the current group set to become unrestricted free agents and five more carrying mutual or player options that likely won’t be picked up. After a rough postseason finish and plenty of holes to patch, this is the offseason that will put the Cubs’ promise of sustained success on the North Side under a microscope.
That evaluation starts with figuring out which players belong in the long-term plan and which ones can be moved aside. A few names stand out as building blocks, while others feel like they’re already drifting toward the exit.
Pedro Ramirez belongs in the first group. He reached the majors in 2026 and did enough to stick, which matters for a 22-year-old still learning on the fly.
Mostly a second baseman, he also logged time at third base, first base, and in the outfield during his first big league season. That kind of versatility could become especially important next year, with Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki headed for free agency.
Both could still return, but Suzuki going into his age-33 season makes a big multi-year deal hard to imagine, and Happ’s bat is trending down. Ramirez looks like a real candidate to take one of those corner outfield jobs and keep proving he can handle major league pitching every day.
Braxton Garrett also fits the future-core conversation, even if he barely made a ripple when he arrived. The Cubs picked him up in 2026, and he ended up making just one big league start while spending most of the year with Triple-A Iowa, where he gave them steady innings.
In seven starts, he posted a 4.11 ERA across 30 2/3 innings, struck out 32, and held opponents to a .209 average. With Matthew Boyd, Kevin Gausman, Shota Imanaga, David Peterson, and Clay Holmes all set for free agency, Garrett suddenly looks a lot more important.
Add in the uncertainty around Justin Steele and Ben Brown, and the trade for Garrett could age into one of the quieter but more valuable moves the Cubs made.
Kevin Alcantara is another player the Cubs should not give up on yet. He still has plenty to clean up as a hitter, but the bigger point is that he needs real runway.
He doesn’t look like a bench bat or a pinch runner type; his value comes if he’s playing every day. That’s why 2027 feels like the right time to let him loose in the majors and see what he can become.
There’s reason to think he could bring power, flair, and youth alongside Pete Crow-Armstrong in the outfield. There’s also a practical angle here: the outfield market doesn’t offer many appealing targets beyond Suzuki and Randy Arozarena, and both are over 30 and probably outside the Cubs’ price comfort zone.
Giving Alcantara the job makes sense, and if it doesn’t fully click, it at least keeps the seat warm while Josiah Hartshorn and Kane Kepley keep moving toward Chicago.
On the other side of the ledger, Edward Cabrera feels like a player the Cubs need to sort out quickly. His first year in Chicago was a mess.
The upside that made the trade appealing is still there in theory, but multiple injured list stints and poor results as both a starter and reliever left the whole thing looking ugly. That stings even more because the Cubs sent Owen Caissie to the Marlins in the deal, and Caissie is exactly the kind of bat they could use right now to help replace Suzuki in right field.
Cabrera still has one year of team control, and with five starters hitting free agency, Chicago has to decide whether it can salvage him in the rotation or risk this trade becoming one of the roughest in recent memory.
Matt Shaw is the other name that belongs on the trade side of the ledger. He and Pedro Ramirez overlap in a lot of ways: both can move around the field, both run well, and both lean more toward contact than power.
The Cubs probably don’t need both. That makes Shaw a logical chip if the front office wants to target a controllable starting pitcher or a dependable bullpen arm.
He has enough upside to matter in a deal, and the Cubs’ pitching needs make that kind of move worth considering.
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Cubs Offseason May Come Down To One Bat Jed Hoyer Can't Lose
Seiya Suzuki has become one of the more stable pieces of the Cubs roster, the kind of middle-order presence and steady outfield defender a front office does not want to go searching for twice. After a season in which he supplied consistent value on both sides of the ball, he sits near the center of whatever Chicago decides to do next, especially with the offseason beginning to sharpen the choices Jed Hoyer has to make.
The wrinkle is that the market may not make this easy. Toronto is reportedly interested in Suzuki, which only raises the stakes for a Cubs club trying to decide which bat it can afford to keep and which path it is willing to take elsewhere. Shota Imanagas uneven work and shaky playoff showing have given Chicago a separate decision tree, but Suzuki is the name that could define how bold or cautious this winter becomes. [Read more 🡒]
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The squeeze comes from the few decisions that are not nearly as straightforward. Arias and Austin are obvious non-tender candidates this offseason, but the bigger challenge is how the Cubs sort through the middle of the roster when payroll flexibility is at a premium. It leaves Hoyer and his staff trying to balance future value against immediate costs, and it is exactly the kind of lineup-and-budget puzzle that can shape the tone of a winter before the first move is even made. [Read more 🡒]
Ian Happ's Cubs Future Just Became A Real Offseason Debate
The Cubs head into the winter with a familiar kind of squeeze, one that mixes sentiment with roster math. Ian Happ has been part of the core long enough to matter beyond the box score, and there is at least a path to keeping him on a team-friendly deal after another season that reinforced both his production and his value in the clubhouse. But Chicago also has bigger-picture needs, and the front office is already weighing where its money has to go if it wants to shore up the pitching staff.
Seiya Suzuki complicates that calculation in a different way. He is younger, his offensive profile may carry more appeal on the open market, and the Cubs may not be able to treat both outfielders as long-term priorities if the budget gets tight. So the offseason question is not simply whether Chicago likes Happ or Suzuki, but which one best fits the roster, the payroll, and the urgency of the fixes still needed elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]