The Cubs are headed for a different-looking roster next season, and Jed Hoyer said as much on Friday. That puts the focus squarely on the players who are still around: who can actually take a step forward, and who enters 2027 with the spotlight burning brightest?
For a handful of Cubs, surviving the offseason only gets them so far. The real test comes in 2027, when they’ll need to prove they belong in the long-term plan.
If that goes well, they stick. If it doesn’t, the path forward gets a lot murkier after that season.
Edward Cabrera is first on that list. He’s arbitration-eligible, and despite a rough first year in Chicago, he’s going to get tendered a contract.
The Cubs didn’t part with Owen Caissie for Cabrera just to move on from him after less than a year. Still, the team clearly knows the plan it used with Cabrera this season was a mess for both sides.
If that doesn’t change in 2027, his future in Chicago could already be in trouble.
Ben Brown is in a different spot, but the stakes are just as real. At the start of the 2026 season, it looked like he might be drifting out of the picture.
Instead, he began the year as a useful bulk arm out of the bullpen, then moved into the rotation and became the best pitcher on the Cubs’ staff. The issue now is health: the neck injury that cut short his 2024 season came back, and the Cubs are back to reworking his treatment plan.
If he’s healthy, Brown should be part of the core. That’s the catch, though - health is the big question.
Miguel Amaya may be the clearest case of opportunity meeting pressure. Carson Kelly is likely to land a multi-year deal somewhere else in free agency this offseason, which would leave Amaya as the Cubs’ primary catcher in 2027.
That could change if the Cubs decide to use catcher as a way to upgrade the offense, but if they don’t, next season becomes a huge one for Amaya. He’ll finally have a chance to show he can be the long-term backstop the Cubs have been reluctant to fully trust.
Then there’s Michael Busch. His 2026 season was solid enough, but there were long stretches when his bat simply vanished.
The power numbers tell the story: his slugging percentage fell by 130 points, and his ISO dropped by 109 points. That kind of pop disappearing from the profile changes everything.
If Busch is going to be the Cubs’ long-term answer at first base, that power has to come back in 2027.
In Other News...
Cubs Offseason Bench Picture Just Got More Unsettled
The Cubs offseason bench picture is already looking a little murkier after Owen Miller elected minor-league free agency following his 2026 season with Triple-A Iowa. Miller spent the year as one of the more steady hands in the organizations upper levels, offering solid work on both sides of the ball while giving the club another experienced infield option to keep in the mix.
Millers departure matters because he had been part of the group the Cubs could lean on for depth, especially with the bench likely to be reshaped by free agency and possible internal promotions. A six-year MLB veteran with time in several organizations, he should draw interest from clubs looking for a reliable reserve, leaving Chicago to sort out how much of its 2027 bench can be filled from within and how much will need to come from outside. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies May Be Eyeing An Outfield Fix With One Big Catch
The Phillies are again looking at ways to reshape their outfield this offseason, and Ian Happ has surfaced as a name that fits the kind of bat they seem to be chasing. The Cubs outfielder had a down year in 2026, but he still carries the track record that makes him attractive: plenty of past offensive production and the kind of consistent home run power front offices tend to trust when they are trying to lengthen a lineup.
Happs profile, though, comes with the sort of caveat that can complicate an otherwise logical fit. His strikeout rate has long been part of the conversation, and for a Phillies team trying to add impact without creating new holes, that matters. The interest is real enough to keep him on the radar, but the question is whether Philadelphia sees enough upside to live with the swing-and-miss that comes attached. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Are Taking Away One Thing Cubs Fans Still Held Onto
The Cubs season ended with a quick Wild Card exit against the Padres, and for a fan base still looking for some kind of silver lining, the broader playoff picture has not offered much relief. San Diego looked strong enough to handle Chicago, and now it is the Brewers who are turning that same opponent into a reminder of what might have been, taking the first two games of the NLDS and putting themselves in position to move on.
For Cubs fans, the most frustrating part may be watching Milwaukee do what Chicago could not and doing it against the same club. The postseason conversation has shifted to how the Padres match up with the Brewers, Dodgers and Braves, but the angle that stings here is simpler: one division rival is threatening to keep rolling while the Cubs are left with an early exit and one fewer thing to cling to. [Read more 🡒]