![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/milwaukee-brewers-v-chicago-cubs-game-one-chicago-illinois-august-e1792156872679.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Chicago Cubs<\/a> will have a hard time re-signing one of their best players this winter. After exiting the recent playoffs prematurely, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is set to have a busy offseason. Chicago has several pending free agents<\/a> to worry about, including Shota Imanaga<\/a>, Kevin Gausman, Ian Happ<\/a>, and Seiya Suzuki. Of the bunch, Suzuki is the team\u2019s most prominent player.<\/p>\n The Japanese outfielder recently finished off a five-year, $85 million contract<\/a> with the Cubs. While Hoyer would love to bring him back, Chicago could very well be priced out of a deal. Bleacher Report\u2019s Joel Reuter<\/a> is now predicting that Suzuki will receive a three-year, $66 million offer soon. Whether this proposal is from the Cubs or not remains to be seen.<\/p>\n According to the reporter, the prediction aligns with what Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez received<\/a> from the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in 2025. \u201cA three-year, $66 million deal would match the contract the Dodgers gave corner outfield slugger Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> when he was the same age, though his status as arguably the No. 2 bat on the market could get him a fourth year,\u201d writes Reuter.<\/p>\n If the reporter\u2019s predictions are correct, Suzuki will receive the ninth-largest contract in free agency this winter. The $22 million annual salary would also be a slight pay raise for the Chicago Cubs slugger. The star recently slashed .270\/.368\/.473 in 2026. His 5.1 WAR was third-best on the team and tied for 19th<\/a> among all Major League Baseball hitters on the season.<\/p>\n Chicago Cubs do not Want to get Into a Bidding war for Seiya Suzuki<\/p>\n \n While a three-year, $66 million contract for a player of Suzuki\u2019s calibre is not necessarily a massive gamble, the Chicago Cubs may not want to set aside so much money for the outfielder. In fact, The Athletic\u2019s Sahadev Sharma<\/a> recently revealed that Hoyer will focus on spending significant funds on pitching. If true, it appears as if the star could very well be leaving the Windy City.<\/p>\n \u201cThe belief is that much of Chicago\u2019s investments, either prospect capital or actual money, will go toward pitching,\u201d claimed Sharma. \u201cIn a weak free-agent class for position players, Suzuki might quickly get priced out of the Cubs\u2019 plans.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting into a bidding war for Suzuki would obviously not be an ideal situation for the Chicago Cubs. Several teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>, have already been linked to the Japanese outfielder<\/a>. While Chicago desperately needs pitching, Toronto is expected to revamp its lineup after an anemic showing at the plate in 2026.<\/p>\n Chicago Expected to Target Cheaper Outfield Options<\/p>\n Assuming Suzuki signs elsewhere, the Chicago Cubs will have to find a suitable replacement. Happ is also not expected to return<\/a> to the North Side either. As a result, Hoyer will look to bring in more economical options at the corner outfield positions. Cleveland Guardians<\/a> veteran Steven Kwan<\/a> was recently linked with a move to Chicago<\/a>. The All-Star is projected to earn around $10 million in 2027.<\/p>\n The Cubs could deploy versatile slugger Pedro Ramirez in the outfield<\/a> as well. Hoyer and Co. are known to be extremely high on the rookie. Ramirez played four different positions for Chicago<\/a> in 2026, including left field.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tChristopher Moore<\/a> Christopher Moore has been a Heavy.com contributor since 2025. With over a decade of experience in the industry, he has published thousands of articles reporting on multiple professional sports. He was previously a sports writer for World Soccer Talk, the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and the Maryland Sports Blog. More about Christopher Moore<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Chicago Cubs will have a hard time re-signing one of their best players this winter. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,4],"class_list":["post-832177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cubs","tag-mlb"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117461405535309383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832177","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=832177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/pittsburgh-pirates-v-chicago-cubs-chicago-illinois-september-12-seiya-suzuki-e1792158885440.jpg\")
GettySeiya Suzuki may have played his last game with the Chicago Cubs.\n<\/p>\n