The Chicago Cubs haven't shied away from waiting to hit the free agent market in previous offseasons.
This approach sometimes pays off when the way they value a player matches his years and financial obligations under his contract. The Cubs are taking the same steady approach, even if it means they won't be able to attract the best players available. That's not what fans will want to hear, as they expect the organization to be able to put together a 92-win season and fall short of the National League Championship Series.
However, the front office is taking a deliberate approach. How that might play out in free agency or through a trade to acquire an impact starting pitcher, rebuild the bullpen and perhaps find a power bat for the lineup will begin to take shape in the coming weeks and heading into spring training.
“If you have a really low (average annual value), long-term deals make a ton of sense, if you have a really high AAV, they start to make less and less sense,” general manager Carter Hawkins said last week at the winter meetings. “Philosophically I'm not against it, but if you value a player and you think about how he's going to be valued year after year and you pay more than you think he's worth, I'm definitely against it and it definitely happens with all players.
“You want to be disciplined, but you don't want to be rigid, and we have to be flexible and understand that we're not perfect and we may have to make changes in our context, change our needs, change the levers of bringing in certain players, relievers, starters, position players, all of those things change. You have to take all of that into account when you think about how much you would give a player or how many players you would give up to get a player.”
Here are four things we heard from the Cubs last week in the winter meetings.
1. The bullpen remains the focus.
Building the bullpen is expected to test the Cubs' ability to find pitchers in a variety of ways, given how many arms they need for pen and minor league depth.
After signing veteran right-hander Phil Maton The Cubs added another reliever to a two-year deal last month. signing left-hander Hobie Milner– a source confirmed to Tribune. Milner, 34, spent three seasons in Milwaukee with manager Craig Counsell (2021-23) and is coming off a 2025 campaign with the Texas Rangers in which he posted a 3.84 ERA in 73 appearances.
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Projecting who could be used as Counsell's leverage is too difficult since there are still so many unknowns around what the bullpen might look like. Still, Counsell expects Maton to offer leverage.
“The bullpen, what we thought about our bullpen going into the season, maybe we were wrong, we were wrong about that,” Counsell said at the winter meetings. “We ended up pitching pretty well. But I think at the beginning of the season maybe they weren't the guys we expected them to be. It just goes to show you take a bunch of good hands and kind of see what happens and have enough ability to turn around when you have to during the season.”
Counsell suggests Porter Hodge's recovery season will be a big part of how the bullpen shakes out.
2. Building the best bench is a difficult task.
The Cubs had one of the healthiest starting positions in the majors.
Outside Kyle Tucker injuries And Miguel AmayaThe Cubs generally didn't have to rely heavily on their bench options, except when Counsell decided to use veteran Justin Turner as a pinch-hitter for Michael Bush. The Cubs know that serious deterioration can occur due to the fluke that can occur year after year due to injuries.
The Cubs, however, don't have many platoon players to offer attractive bench prospects that would give them maximum depth to close the gap on one of their starting position players.
“There are a lot of players who want to establish themselves or re-establish themselves as regular players, and when you offer them a non-everyday role, they think, 'OK, what are the chances they'll even get the chance to do that?' Hawkins said. “You can overpay someone to do that role part-time, but then there's the opportunity cost of those dollars. That's where the problem lies.”
Optimally, Hawkins added, players come out of the minors to fill the bench and learn how to effectively enter the big leagues.
“But yeah, it’s an interesting problem,” Hawkins said. “I think you've seen that with teams like ours or teams like the Braves where you have a group of very fixed position players and we're not an attractive destination for someone who can necessarily play multiple positions, but that can also change in the blink of an eye.
“So we're trying to sell the environment to the player, trying to sell how we could potentially use him. I think having Craig Counsell really helps because he can articulate those roles very effectively. He's played a lot in those roles as a player, so that makes up for it a little bit. But given where our roster is right now, it's a harder sell.”
3. High praise for Moises Ballesteros.
The Cubs are confident Ballesteros can succeed in the majors.
This belief gives the organization an internal backup plan in case they don't acquire a more proven offensive player in the coming months. Counsell identified Ballesteros and prospect Owen Casey as important players for 2026, at least with how the roster is currently constructed. Ballesteros, in particular, is well positioned to start the season in the majors.
“He's at the point where if he can help a big league team, he'll make it to the big leagues,” Counsell said of Ballesteros. “He doesn't need the day-to-day job of catching in the big leagues. But the way it's set up now, we have room for at-bats and I would prioritize the major leagues right now. But that could change depending on the lineup.”
Just 22 years old, Ballesteros impressed the Cubs in his 20 major league games. Seiya Suzuki is expected to return to right field this offseason, creating a need for a designated hitter. Last season, Ballesteros started behind the order just once in the majors, and his performance was encouraging. The Cubs will be looking to continue to get him involved at catcher if he is part of a major league team, although it won't be often at third on the depth chart behind Carson Kelly and Amaya.
4. Quantifying Nico Horner's value.
Coming off a career-best season in which he won his second Gold Glove Award, Hoerner played a key role in helping the Cubs return to the postseason for the first time since 2020.
His impact on the Cubs may be difficult for other teams to fully appreciate, but his drive and resilience do not go unnoticed by those within the organization. With his batting skills, leadership and elite defense at second base, the Cubs could benefit from finding a middle ground and extending Hoerner, who turns 29 in May. Hoerner, who made $12 million in 2026, is entering the final year of a three-year, $35 million contract he signed in March 2023.
“Everyone has their intangible qualities,” Counsell said. “Nico is great at some things that I think other people think they're good at and they're not that good at. I'm not just talking about players, I'm just talking about people. Like when you say 'come in every day and like do every rep,' every rep is done perfectly. That's who Nico is. And it seems like it's easy, anyone can do it, I do it. Well, you don't. I would put Nico at the top of the list for how he does it.
“In a sport like baseball, where there are so many plays and moments, it comes out a lot. It's a great trait and it's what made Nico a very good baseball player.”
