The Chicago Cubs lost in the NL Wild Card round this season, but looking ahead to the future, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about this Cubs team.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is going to win the NL MVP award, and there are a lot of good players locked up for the Cubs. But when it comes to two fan-favorite outfielders, Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki, there’s some uncertainty about their future with the Cubs.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report is predicting that the Cubs will re-sign one of those free agent outfielders, choosing to bring back Suzuki, the beloved veteran OF who had a 1313 OPS+ this season, on a multi-year deal.
Cubs predicted to re-sign Seiya Suzuki amid pair of OF questions
“Chicago Cubs: OF Seiya Suzuki (Age: 32)… With a 131 OPS+ and 26 home runs in a 5.1-WAR season, Suzuki looks like the hardest to replace, given the lack of impact bats on the market,” Reuter writes. “Verdict: Re-sign.”
Happ and Suzuki hitting the open market at the same time presents a bit of a problem for the Cubs. As Reuter noted, unless Happ takes a discount, keeping both is going to prove very difficult.
Instead, the Cubs are more likely to sign one or the other to a long-term deal to stick in Chicago. Of the two, Reuter is predicting that it’s more likely to be Suzuki.
He just had a great season, posting 5.1 bWAR in 143 games, the best year of his five seasons with the Cubs in the Majors so far.
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He hit 26 homers, climbing over 100 in his big league career, and drove in 86 RBIs to go with a .270 batting average and an .841 OPS.
While it wasn’t the best offensive season of his career, his defensive production and overall impact for the Cubs was a lot greater than it has been in any of his previous seasons.
Losing both him and Happ in one offseason would be too much to lose in one year. So, keeping at least one would be ideal. Of the two, Suzuki is probably the best one to keep with how good of a year he just had.
Reuter is predicting the Cubs will keep Suzuki this offseason, which would not be a surprise considering how much he meant to this team in 2026.
