The Cubs had a solid season in 2025 but it came to an end on Saturday when they dropped Gave Five of the Division Series to the Brewers. That turns the focus to the offseason and some upcoming decisions. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer held an end-of-season press conference yesterday but largely avoided tipping his hand about anything. Reporters such as Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic and Jordan Bastian of MLB.com provided dispatches from the presser.
Kyle Tucker’s impending free agency will be a big storyline this winter and Hoyer provided some boilerplate comments about trying to retain the player. “Everyone can use a guy like Kyle Tucker. Everyone gets better by having a player like that,” Hoyer said. “We’ll certainly be having those conversations.”
The Cubs obviously think highly of Tucker. Back in December, they gave up Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski and Cam Smith in order to acquire Tucker’s final year before free agency. They saw Tucker near his best for a while. He slashed .291/.395/.537 through the end of June for a 157 wRC+ while stealing 20 bases.
But his results tapered off as the season went along. A finger fracture suffered in early June didn’t immediately slow him down but seemed to catch up with him eventually. A calf strain also popped up later in the season. From July through the end of the season, Tucker slashed just .225/.348/.342 for a 103 wRC+. He had a .259/.375/.370 line and 118 wRC+ in the postseason.
Despite the tepid finish, Tucker has shown remarkably well-rounded production when healthy and should still be in high demand this winter. From 2021 to the present, he has a combined .277/.365/.514 line and 143 wRC+. He stole 105 bases in there with strong defensive grades, though the glovework seems to be trending down. FanGraphs credited him with 23.4 wins above replacement, making him one of the ten most valuable position players in that stretch.
Though he is limping towards free agency, it’s still possible Tucker’s market will be strong enough that he could secure something like a ten-year, $400MM deal. The Cubs could do that, in a sense. They are a big-market club and their future payroll is quite clean, with Dansby Swanson the only guy really locked in beyond 2026. However, they would need to shatter precedent, as the largest contract in franchise history is Jason Heyward’s $184MM deal from a decade ago.
One other guy who is technically on the books beyond 2026 is left-hander Shota Imanaga, thanks to his convoluted contract. In the next few weeks, it will be determined if he stays on the books or not. The Cubs will soon have to decide whether or not to trigger a three-year, $57.5MM club option for the 2026-28 season. If they turn that down, Imanaga has a $15.25MM player option for 2026. If he triggers that, after 2026, the Cubs have to decide on a two-year, $42.5MM club option. If that is turned down, Imanaga would get another $15.25MM player option.
Hoyer technically responded to a question about Imanaga yesterday but without really answering anything. “When we signed Shota, if you’d shown us his production over the last two years, we would have taken that in a heartbeat,” Hoyer said. “So not only has he produced for us, but he’s just a great teammate and terrific asset to the organization. Obviously we have decisions to make and discussions to (have). Over the next two or three weeks we’ll do that, but I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about Shota.”
After Imanaga’s MLB debut in 2024, the club option seemed like a no-brainer. He posted a 2.91 earned run average over 29 starts. Despite his fastball averaging just 91.7 miles per hour, he was able to strike out 25.1% of batters faced and only gave out walks 4% of the time. But his results backed up here in 2025. As he averaged just 90.8 mph on his fastball, he posted a 3.73 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 4.6% walk rate. That includes a rough second half with a 4.70 ERA.
Since Imanaga is now 32 years old and his trends aren’t great, it’s possible the Cubs may look to quit while they’re ahead. Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon and Cade Horton will have spots in next year’s rotation. Horton finished the season on the injured list due to a rib fracture but is healthy now. He actually would have been on the NLCS roster if the Cubs had advanced, per Bastian. Justin Steele will be back from his UCL surgery at some point. Colin Rea can be retained via a $6MM club option, which has a $750K buyout. Guys like Ben Brown, Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks will be in the mix.
Subtracting Imanaga from the group would further thin out a group that already looks lacking. On the other hand, adding Imanaga back in there would leave the rotation feeling decent but lacking in upside. There’s an argument that they should turn down their option and use the money saved to pursue more of a front-of-rotation arm. This winter’s free agent market will feature guys like Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez and others. The trade market could feature MacKenzie Gore, Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray and others.
As for the coaching staff, Hoyer noted they would all be invited back. That makes it possible the Cubs face minimal turnover this winter but it’s also possible some staffers get poached by other clubs. There are eight managerial vacancies and bench coach Ryan Flaherty has already been connected to a few of them. Once those new managers are hired, they will likely have some ability to make coaching decisions. That should lead to a lot of coaching musical chairs this winter, so time will tell if that impacts anyone with the Cubs.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel, Imagn Images