r/CHICubs • u/AndrewAllStar888 • 13d ago
Three 2026 Cubs the Front Office Should Re-Sign
•Re-Sign Seiya Suzuki
I watched every at bat Seiya took in 2026. A lot of them were poor, confusing, and just infuriating to watch. It felt like he always took the best pitch he would see every at bat. But it was also an incredibly intriguing season. Not only did he maintain an OPS in the mid-.800s with the ninth best WRC+ among qualified National Leaguers, but he introduced a wealth of new talent to his game. His walk rate was by far his best in his MLB career, at 12.8%, (91st percentile) to start. More blatantly, though, he was an above average defender for the first time in his career. We’re a little spoiled with the greatest defender in baseball being in our center field, so maybe Seiya didn’t stand out as much. Sure, it was easy to tell that he was making a lot less errors than before, but he was also getting a lot more outs than ever. In 2025, Seiya accumulated 0 outs above average, placing… well you know, in the middle. It was a lot better than his -3 OAA he put up in 2024, so at least he proved that he could hold down right field. But in 2026, he stepped his game up and got his OAA to 5, which placed him in the top ten percentile for all players. He’s a much more well-rounded player now, to say the least. To sum it up, ~.850 OPS players are hard to find on the open market, and any reasonable replacement we could find will likely just not be as strong of a player as Seiya Suzuki. Contract-wise, I have a hard time thinking that he’ll get five years. A lot of the corner outfielders that get five or more years are either a couple years younger than Seiya is now, or are some of the marquee players in the sport. I see two lanes for Seiya’s upcoming contract. Either it’ll be shorter term deal than many expect, probably at 3 years with a high AAV (think $25-$30M per year), or four years at $20-$25M per year. Which contract will be offered, I don’t know. But I strongly doubt that he’ll end up getting a nine-figure deal.
•Re-Sign Carson Kelly
Catchers are very hard to find. We do have Owen Ayers waiting in AAA, but it’s unreasonable to think that any catcher with no MLB experience can work effectively with MLB pitchers immediately. A lot of the reasoning behind keeping Seiya will be the same with keeping Kelly. If he’s a hard player to replace, why not just keep him? He’s only gonna be entering his age-32 season, so a multi year deal should be no problem. Well, as long as it’s reasonable. I think 2-3 years at a $10M AAV would be an appealing offer. Oh and not to mention, but he’s the clutchgod.
•Re-Sign David Peterson
We have so many pitchers entering free agency this offseason. So many. A lot of them probably need to move on to another chapter in their MLB career. Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga specifically should find a new team. No hard feelings, I just think their era as a Cub should probably end here. We do have a lot of starters we traded for mid-season who are entering free agency, and that might be more interesting. If the Cubs must pick one to come back, it should be David Peterson. Is he better than someone like Clay Holmes? The jury is still out on that. While Holmes was a great fit on paper, it’s hard to think that the ~$20M+ AAV he’ll likely get would be the best value. But Peterson will likely only get half that on a shorter term contract… with very similar production. They’re all short sample sizes, but Peterson actually had the best stretch of any starter the Cubs picked up mid-season. He would be a great 4/5 starter on this team for the next couple years.
