MESA, Ariz. -- The Cubs returned to the playoffs last season following a four-year October drought. After reaching the National League Division Series, Chicago has higher expectations for 2026.
If the players want to accomplish something together, their window to do so might be closing fast.
The Cubs have five prominent players entering the final year of their respective contracts: Shota Imanaga, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner and Jameson Taillon. Matthew Boyd, Carson Kelly, Hunter Harvey, Caleb Thielbar and Colin Rea have mutual options that will likely send them to the free-agent market, as well.
With more than 40 percent of the roster potentially headed to the open market in the fall, the 2027 Cubs are almost certain to have a drastically different look than this year’s iteration.
“We certainly feel very confident in our team going forward, but it's going to look different in ‘27 than this,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “There are certain times when, contractually, you kind of know what the consistency is going to be; our roster is pretty consistent from last year to this year, but there is going to be change. Craig has talked to the players about trying to embrace that.”
This year’s roster has some notable additions, namely Alex Bregman and Edward Cabrera, while Harvey, Phil Maton, Jacob Webb and Hoby Milner were added in an effort to overhaul the bullpen.
But Hoerner, Happ and Suzuki have been lineup stalwarts in recent years, while Imanaga, Boyd and Taillon combined to make roughly half of Chicago’s starts in 2025. The Cubs lost Kyle Tucker to free agency, though he had been on the North Side for only one season, hardly enough time to establish himself as a staple in the clubhouse.
Manager Craig Counsell’s message to his players this spring has been simple: Don’t worry about the future when you can accomplish something special in the present.
“[Celtics head coach] Joe Mazzulla, who is one of my favorite coaches, said, ‘I go to bed questionable and wake up probable.’ None of us are guaranteed anything, and that's really a great way to put it,” Counsell said. “Like, why am I worried about what's going to happen? I have to make sure I wake up the next day, so let's just worry about what's going on right now.”
For players approaching free agency, that can be easier said than done.
“The whole point of this is to be where your feet are, so I don’t think you worry about it,” Counsell said. “Everybody thinks about what's next for them; that's a natural thought for people to do. But when you have an opportunity like we have, it’s also easier to be where your feet are every day, be present, enjoy it and cherish it. That's what we've talked about our goal being every single day: to enjoy what you have right in front of you.”
While the players headed for free agency will surely think about what is in store for them next fall, they won’t be alone. Hoyer’s job is to put together the best team he can for the upcoming season while also planning for the future.
The Cubs have only three players on guaranteed deals in 2026: Bregman, Maton and Dansby Swanson. Only Bregman and Swanson are signed to deals beyond next season. Hoyer will have a couple of busy offseasons ahead, giving the long-time executive a chance to reimagine what the Cubs’ roster can look like.
“I think it's both an opportunity and a challenge,” Hoyer said. “If you're replacing, you're replacing a lot of really good players. You have some freedom to restructure things a bit. It’s not going to be a simple, easy task, but it presents a lot of opportunity.”
Players respond differently in their contract years, some handling the pressure better than others as they face an uncertain future. Neither Counsell nor Hoyer are concerned about their impending free agents’ ability to focus on the task at hand. After all, what would worrying about it accomplish?
“I think about the guy that's getting optioned to Triple-A; who has more pressure on them? Who feels it a little more?” Counsell said. “If you've made your way to free agency, you've accomplished a lot in this game and good things are going to happen. If you put some perspective around some things we try to worry about, it puts you in a better place.”
“Some guys will embrace it and have one of their best years, while some guys, it may bother them,” Hoyer said. “I understand how both can happen. It’s hard as a person to not think about the future when there’s uncertainty. It can be all over the map, which is just the nature of it.”
With Opening Day rapidly approaching, the Cubs are concentrating on now, not later. Amazingly, it’s been a decade since the 2016 team won the franchise’s first World Series championship in 108 years. Ten years is a drop in the bucket for a fan base that went more than a century between titles, but for the players and front office, there is urgency when it comes to this group accomplishing something special.
“The team is going to look different in ’27 almost by definition with that many free agents, but we try to embrace that as opposed to having fear about it,” Hoyer said. “Knowing that next year will look different than this year, let's enjoy ’26.”