The Chicago Cubs avoided arbitration with all three players that were eligible, including newly acquired starting pitcher Edward Cabrera. It was a quick turnaround as the Cubs completed the four-player trade with the Miami Marlins on Wednesday and then had Thursday’s deadline to come to an agreement on a 2026 salary with Cabrera, who is in the second year of being arb-eligible.

Along with Justin Steele and Javier Assad, Cabrera will not need a hearing as the Cubs secured all three pitchers to their deals for the upcoming season. Steele’s contract was first reported on Thursday as the left-hander and the Cubs settled on a $6.775 million salary for the rehabbing starter. Steele remains under team control through 2027.

Meanwhile, Assad has agreed to a $1.8 million salary for the 2026 season. Assad, who missed most of last year because of an oblique strain, has two years left of arbitration eligibility with the Cubs.

As for Cabrera, MLB Trade Rumors projected the right-handed pitcher to earn about $3.7 million in 2026, however, he’ll actually end up getting a decent chunk more. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported on Thursday night that Cabrera and the Cubs agreed to a $4.45 million salary, which is slightly above 20% of the expected figure from MLBTR.

Cabrera made his MLB debut with the Marlins in 2021, and has pitched in each of the last five seasons in the majors, but he’s only accrued 3.147 years of service time, which is why he is still under team control for another two years following this season.

Cabrera is coming off the best year of his career, surpassing 100 innings for the first time, while starting a career high 22 starts with the Marlins. He ended the 2025 season with a 3.53 ERA in 137.2 innings and from May 4 through the end of the year Cabrera turned in a 2.95 ERA in 119 innings.

The Cubs are taking on the risk of Cabrera potentially missing time with injury and hoping to reap the rewards from the pitcher’s high ceiling and tremendous upside. No question that Cabrera is talented, but there are some things the Cubs’ pitching staff can work on with him to take the former top-100 prospect to a higher level in Chicago.

The bullpen was reconstructed during the early part of the offseason, but the heavy lifting seemingly began once the calendar flipped to January. After missing out on other free agent starters the Cubs pivoted to the trade market and acquired Edward Cabrera. Now, free agent rumors are picking up across the league as several top players remain unsigned and the Cubs are right in the middle of it.

Free agent shortstop Bo Bichette reportedly wants a $300 million contract, but seeing as we’re a month away from spring training it doesn’t appear as though any team will grant his wish. We know the Cubs like to operate methodically when it comes to big free agents and sometimes it works in their favor if a player’s market doesn’t develop as they’d hoped. That could very well be the case for Bichette and the Cubs are reportedly in contact with the former Blue Jays infielder.

Jon Heyman first made a direct link between the Cubs and Bichette last week and just before the trade for Cabrera was revealed on Wednesday a new report came out from The Athletic that backed up Heyman’s intel.

Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon wrote the following.

“The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are among the teams talking to both [Bo Bichette and Alex Bregman], according to people briefed on the conversations. The Blue Jays have been in touch with both, too, but now appear more focused on Tucker.

The Cubs’ interest in Bichette, first reported by Jon Heyman, stems from their desire to upgrade at third base – something the signing of Bregman also would accomplish.”

The Alex Bregman mention isn’t anything new. The Cubs were interested in him last offseason, offered him $120 million over four years and they are once again one of the top teams in play for Bregman this year. Yet, the Bichette connection is certainly intriguing.

Obviously the Cubs don’t want Bichette as their shortstop with Dansby Swanson already in place, but it’s clear the organization isn’t all too comfortable guaranteeing Matt Shaw the starting job at third base. That’s why they tried signing Bregman last offseason, then went after Eugenio Suarez at the trade deadline and are have returned to the third base market in free agency this offseason.

Beyond 2026, it makes sense for the Cubs to acquire another infielder as there’s no guarantee that Nico Hoerner will remain with the team as he prepares to enter free agency after the end of this year. Whether it’s Bregman or Bichette, it would still be smart to hold on to Shaw and have him around if Hoerner does leave. If not, you have a great super utility guy or a pretty good trade chip.

That’s getting a little ahead of ourselves though because as much as Cubs fans may be pounding the table for Bichette, there appears to be a new frontrunner emerging for the 27-year-old.

Phillies to meet with Bo Bichette

The Phillies were also a team that Jon Heyman linked along with the Cubs and on Thursday news broke that they’re setting up a meeting with Bichette that will take place on Monday.

There seems to be more serious language in this report than your usual x team is interested in x player. Maybe it’s one last push from the Phillies in regards to J. T. Realmuto, who is also on Philadelphia’s wishlist and remains unsigned. Could be a tactic to make Realmuto give in to a lower deal, while giving the impression that the team will instead spend the money on Bichette or this could be a genuine step from the Phillies to bring in Bichette as they’re not a team afraid to spend in free agency.

Meanwhile, Heyman is pushing the idea that while Bichette has several suitors, the Phillies may indeed be the new favorites to sign him.

While the Cubs may be involved with Bichette it still doesn’t seem as though they’re one of the strong teams in pursuit. Instead, at this point Bregman might be the name to pay close attention too and in recent days Cody Bellinger has actually popped up as a real free agent target for the Cubs.

Going to an arb hearing isn’t always the worst thing to happen, but it certainly can cause some nasty feelings, especially coming from the player. Luckily, the Chicago Cubs have avoided arbitration with Justin Steele as the two sides have agreed on a new deal.

Thursday marks the deadline for players and teams to present their final numbers for a 2026 salary and Steele has officially agreed to a $6.775 million contract for this year. Steele, who was limited to four starts in 2025 and was shut down after suffering an elbow injury, is in his third year of team control through arbitration. The 30-year-old starting pitcher has one year remaining of arb control before he can become a free agent.

The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney first reported Steele’s agreement with the Cubs Thursday afternoon.

Drafted out of high school in 2014, Steele overcame some early injuries in the minors and broke out with the Cubs after his rookie campaign. The left-hander earned an All-Star nod in 2023, when he also finished fifth in the Cy Young Award voting. Between 2022-24, Steele made 78 starts for the Cubs and recorded a 3.10 ERA in 427 innings of work.

Justin Steele’s expected return

In 2025, Steele underwent elbow surgery that sidelined him from the middle of April through the end of the regular season. It wasn’t Tommy John surgery, but instead the pitcher had UCL revision surgery with an internal brace and although the recovery time is normally quicker than the traditional Tommy John procedure the team isn’t rushing their starter back to the rotation.

Earlier this offseason Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed that Steele would not be ready to return to the active roster by the time the 2026 regular season rolled around. However, Counsell did set somewhat of a timetable, saying Steele should be back in the first half of the of the season.

The team will have a clearer timeframe in mind once spring training begins next month in Arizona.

Cubs rotation depth

Jed Hoyer needed to add quality rotation depth heading into the 2026 season and that was a need regardless of Steele’s status. Thus far, the Cubs have primarily been busy filling out the bullpen, but the front office did make a consequential trade this week, acquiring 27-year-old Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins.

Here is how the Cubs rotation depth looks like after getting Cabrera.

Cubs Starting Pitching Depth
Cade Horton
Matthew Boyd
Edward Cabrera
Jameson Taillon
Shōta Imanaga
Justin Steele
Colin Rea
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jordan Wicks
Jaxon Wiggins

Not bad, not bad at all. The Cubs not only have cover in the rotation with the addition of Cabrera, but they’ve assembled a group of 10+ arms that capable of filling in at any moment that have prior MLB experience and success at varying levels. Oh and then there’s top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins waiting in the wings as well.

This popped up on the radar a few days ago, but I honestly didn’t pay much attention to it because it seemed like a throwaway comment from Jon Heyman. The national MLB insider said the Cubs had checked in on free agent Cody Bellinger and that was the extent of the report, so automatically you’re thinking Scott Boras is trying to drum up buzz around Bellinger. I mean, we play this game every offseason in free agency and maybe it is simply negotiating through the media, but all of a sudden a reunion between Bellinger and the Cubs is gaining momentum.

Since the start of free agency the New York Yankees pegged as the favorites to re-sign Bellinger after another rebound season. The Cubs traded Bellinger last offseason in what ultimately turned out to be a salary dump and the outfielder/first baseman responded with a 29 homer season and 125 wRC+ in 152 games. That came after Bellinger had an OK 2024 campaign with the Cubs as the left-handed hitter posted a 108 wRC+ and hit 18 home runs in 130 games.

In recent weeks rumors have been circulating that Bellinger has become the Yankees’ top priority in free agency, These aren’t the Yankees of old, completely bulldozing the entire league anymore with free agents and despite several top players still available they also seem to be waiting to get Bellinger at their price.

The hesitance to go all-in for Bellinger by the Yankees may have opened the door for Boras to either use other teams as leverage or actually give other teams room to operate on an offer of their own. And that’s where the Cubs come into play.

There’s no secret that Jed Hoyer will win or lose on free agents without budging on his offer. The Cubs were reportedly the runner-up for Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai after not matching the Houston Astros’ deal for the starter. A few years ago the Cubs waited out Bellinger’s free agency and signed him to a three-year, $80 million contract that included opt outs after the first and second year. That agreement wasn’t reached until the start of spring training games as Boras wasn’t able to secure a long-term contract for Bellinger.

Now, Bellinger is once again waiting on a big deal and as we get closer to spring training the Cubs might be in position to sign him again.

Cubs have legitimate interest in Cody Bellinger

What makes this new rumor more newsworthy is where it’s coming from. No, not Heyman and this goes beyond Bruce Levine’s mention on Thursday morning. The Chicago baseball insider said on 670 The Score that between Bellinger and Tucker, the Cubs actually prefer to bring back Bellinger. That note came after Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami reported that a source has indicated to him that the Cubs do actually have genuine interest in Bellinger this offseason.

Cerami has become the best source in Chicago media when it comes to actually breaking acquisitions. Whether it’s at the trade deadline or free agency, Cerami has established himself as the go-to Cubs guy when it comes to breaking news. He was the first to report the Edward Cabrera trade was close to being finalized on Wednesday and after it was made official Cerami dropped another bomb.

Via Bleacher Nation.

To be honest, I had a hard time believing it myself, but according to a source, the Cubs do have a legitimate interest in re-signing Cody Bellinger this offseason. And, hey, they’ve done it twice before! Perhaps they’ll go for the trifecta this winter.

The Cubs have no excuse not to sign a top hitter this offseason. I know some fans don’t really love the fit for Bellinger at this moment, but it’s important to look into the future. Whether it’s an infielder or outfielder, the Cubs need more talent because after 2026, the only position players you can count on being with the team are Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch, Matt Shaw and Dansby Swanson.

As for this season, there’s pretty much no one saying that Kyle Tucker will return so you have to replace his production. Sure, Moises Ballesteros can put up decent numbers, but it’s important to add another quality bat to the lineup and not rely on the rookie to make up for the bulk of Tucker’s absence. Whether it’s Bellinger, Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman, the Cubs have to sign another position player after trading for Cabrera.

Right now, Bellinger appears to be the new hot name in Cubs’ circles.

Hey, finally some excitement and actual players to talk about for the Cubs. That’s why the Cabrera trade was so big. It does open up several other opportunities to get better, now it’s up to Hoyer to get that extra piece, something he didn’t do a year ago.