{"id":670513,"date":"2026-04-08T16:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/670513\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:00:17","slug":"mlb-analyst-reveals-limitations-in-cubs-85-million-outfielders-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/670513\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB analyst reveals ‘limitations’ in Cubs’ $85 million outfielder’s free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

MLB analyst reveals ‘limitations’ in Cubs’ $85 million outfielder’s free agency<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are several months before Major League free agency, but it’s never too early to take a look at this winter’s available players.<\/p>\n

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The Chicago Cubs<\/a> will have several decisions to make, and one of their top sluggers will become a free agent.<\/p>\n

Outfielder\/designated hitter Seiya Suzuki began the season on the 10-day injured list for the Cubs after suffering a strain in his knee during the World Baseball Classic with Japan. Recent reports indicate <\/a>he could return to the lineup as early as this week.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter<\/a> knows this season is important for Suzuki, who signed a five-year contract with Chicago after achieving superstar status in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0Mets didn<\/a>\u2019t want to trade Brett Baty while White Sox didn<\/a>\u2019t want Mark Vientos in Luis Robert Jr. trade<\/a><\/p>\n

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“Suzuki set career-high marks in home runs (32) and RBI (103) last year in the fourth season of a five-year, $85 million contract,” Reuter wrote Wednesday. However, there’s one thing holding Suzuki back, and it may hurt his pocket.<\/p>\n

“He has been a steady run producer since making the jump stateside, but defensive limitations could put a ceiling on his market,” Reuter added. “Still, he’s one of the few legitimate 30-homer sluggers in the class,”<\/p>\n

Suzuki could find a new home if Chicago’s front office is not prepared<\/a> to offer both him and fan favorite Ian Happ contracts.<\/p>\n

More MLB news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLB analyst reveals ‘limitations’ in Cubs’ $85 million outfielder’s free agency originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,358,138,24,4245,161,350,36,2372,11774,999,228,1385,101,4,2353,40,105,396,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-670513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brett-baty","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-cubs","14":"tag-free-agent","15":"tag-ian-happ","16":"tag-japan","17":"tag-joel-reuter","18":"tag-luis-robert-jr","19":"tag-mark-vientos","20":"tag-max-kepler","21":"tag-mets","22":"tag-mlb","23":"tag-nippon-professional-baseball","24":"tag-phillies","25":"tag-seiya-suzuki","26":"tag-white-sox","27":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116369924088332958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670513","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=670513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}