{"id":518529,"date":"2026-01-13T17:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/518529\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T17:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:48:13","slug":"another-early-look-at-the-2026-cubs-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/518529\/","title":{"rendered":"Another early look at the 2026 Cubs Opening Day roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just last week, I took a \u201cway too early\u201d look<\/a> at a possible Cubs Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n

Today, we stand 72 days from that (hopefully not too cold) Opening Day game Thursday, March 26 against the Nationals at Wrigley Field \u2014 and two significant changes have happened since then.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s take another look at who those 26 players will be who will line up on the third-base line at Wrigley Field for introductions. Honestly, I don\u2019t see too many possible changes from this list before March 26. After the Cubs\u2019 two big moves in the last week, I think this is it.<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 current 40-man roster<\/a> currently stands at 38 players \u2014 including Alex Bregman, whose signing has not yet officially been announced by the team. I\u2019d expect that signing to become official before this weekend\u2019s Cubs Convention.<\/p>\n

Miguel Amaya, Carson Kelly<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Still no question about these two. Hopefully Amaya stays healthy this year. If so, this is a very good catching tandem.<\/p>\n

Tyler Austin, Alex Bregman, Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Matt Shaw<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Austin essentially takes over the roster spot held in 2025 by Justin Turner. There is still some question about whether Shaw might be traded. Personally, I hope the Cubs do NOT trade Nico Hoerner. If there\u2019s a trade upcoming, the Cubs would have to find another infielder to be their backup at shortstop, second base and third base. Scott Kingery, in camp on a NRI, is a possibility. Willi Castro, who didn\u2019t play well for the Cubs after they acquired him from the Twins in trade last summer, remains a free agent. Other infielders meeting that description who remain free agents (and I\u2019m not necessarily recommending any of these guys, just noting that they are available) include Santiago Espinal, Thairo Estrada and Isiah Kiner-Falefa..<\/p>\n

Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki<\/p>\n

COMMENT: If Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros (see below) serves as DH, Suzuki will play a lot of right field. Alc\u00e1ntara becomes the Cubs\u2019 primary backup outfielder at all three positions.<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Ballesteros, nominally a catcher, really doesn\u2019t belong in that category as (in my view) his catching skills aren\u2019t MLB-ready, so I\u2019m listing him exclusively as a DH. He\u2019ll almost certainly be the Cubs\u2019 DH against RHP, and perhaps work into the role vs. LHP over the course of the season.<\/p>\n

Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Cade Horton, Sh\u014dta Imanaga, Jameson Taillon<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Justin Steele likely starts the year on the 60-day injured list, but could join the rotation by sometime in early June. Jaxon Wiggins, who likely starts the year in Triple-A, is another possibility.<\/p>\n

Ben Brown, Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Caleb Thielbar, Jacob Webb<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Colin Rea got bumped from the rotation to \u201cswingman\/long reliever\u201d as a result of the Edward Cabrera trade.<\/p>\n

Names I left off include Javier Assad, Luke Little, Porter Hodge, Ethan Roberts and Jordan Wicks. All of those pitchers have options, and Assad could start the year at Triple-A Iowa, stretching out to start. Brown could, too, although I think his best use is in the bullpen. Wicks, I believe, has a chance to become (eventually) a reliever in the mold of Thielbar, or maybe even the way the Cubs used Drew Pomeranz last year.<\/p>\n

Hodge was on the potential 26-man roster I posted here a week ago. Of the eight pitchers listed above, only Brown and Palencia have options. Palencia\u2019s obviously not going anywhere, and it\u2019s possible the Cubs keep Hodge and send Brown to Iowa. As always, we await developments.<\/p>\n

This list is probably close to the 26 men who will line up on the third-base line at Wrigley Field March 26. But it\u2019s at least a starting point for discussion. Have at it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just last week, I took a \u201cway too early\u201d look at a possible Cubs Opening Day roster. Today,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,52175],"class_list":{"0":"post-518529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago-cubs-commentary-and-analysis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115889052329236744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}