Chicago Cubs are going young, like it or not

The Chicago Cubs got really close to making it to the NLCS this year. The team showed grit, gumption, and the ability to battle back from adversity in their two-series playoff run. They also showed the strength of character to excel in the face of some real roster-related limitations.

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One would assume that getting so close to next-level postseason success, burdened by some easily identifiable roster holes, would make the objective obvious for 2026– fill those holes with the best available talent.

The Cubs certainly have the money to go out and do that via some veteran high-end free agent acquisitions. They also have the trade capital in their farm system to pull off a deal for an established impact player.

They won’t do either, though.

Chicago Cubs business as usual– Go cheap and hope for the best

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Limited by the owning Ricketts family’s frugal ways, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer will once again have to rely on “best available at the right price” talent rather than simply “best available” talent when it comes to acquisitions.

Or, better yet for the always budget-minded Cubs, he’ll be filling as many roster holes as possible with young, cheap talent from the minors while crossing his fingers and hoping for the best.

A perfect example of this will be at right field and designated hitter.

There should be very little doubt at this point that Kyle Tucker will soon be an ex-Cub. With Chicago balking on a contract as rich as $400 million over 9-10 years, they will look to replace him with existing roster players on the cheap.

Seiya Suzuki will likely be shifted back from DH to right field full time. The 21-year-old Moises Ballesteros will then be moved into the DH slot, with Cubs top prospect Owen Caissie finding some playing time at right field in a platoon with Suzuki or as insurance to Ballesteros at DH. Then, when Suzuki and Ian Happ are allowed to walk after they become free agents at the end of next season, Caissie will be given the full-time right field or left field gig as the front office hopes and wishes him to be ready.

Jed Hoyer and pleasant surprises

“That’s the lifeblood of baseball today. You have to have good, young players,” Hoyer told media at last week’s end-of-season press conference. “I think those are the guys that have real upside that can surprise you, and have great years — even beyond projections. So I consider Moises and Owen in that group. And I think their futures are really bright.”

Hoyer and company have regularly mentioned pleasant surprises and players outperforming expectations as crucial elements to the Cubs’ success. At this point, it probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that this president of a major market ball club would still be talking up what essentially amounts to luck as a key component to the team’s success.

Rookie Cade Horton shocked and awed the baseball world with his second-half dominance last season. Pete Crow-Armstrong did the same with his first half dominance. Third baseman Matt Shaw went from a flop to serviceable over the course of the season. First baseman Michael Busch took a huge step forward in his second full season as an everyday player. Reliever Daniel Palencia was an eye-opening revelation right up until his late season fizzle. Ballesteros, meanwhile, pretty much proved that he could handle big league pitching, albeit in a pretty small sample size of at bats.

What’s in store for 2026

This upcoming season, they’ll be counting on Caissie being major league ready and, possibly, on top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins being the Cade Horton of 2026. They’ll also be looking for some of the Triple-A arms to help round out a bullpen that will have to be almost completely restocked after they let at least 5 or 6 relievers drift away into free agency.

And, while ‘going with youth’ is not necessarily a bad thing, the real reason behind a conservative offseason will center more around budget considerations than fielding the best possible team with the resources available to them. In 2026, after getting so close to an NLCS berth in 2025, it’s very possible that half the Cubs’ 26-man roster will be at-or-near the league-minimum salary.

That’s a huge win for Cubs ownership, regardless of whether the team actually wins or not.

It also means that, once again, there were will be little margin for error when it comes to the on-field product and that success will be predicated on players outperforming expectations.

It would be nice, though, to occasionally make the team guaranteed-better by adding a great player who is a sure thing to be a great player. Well, they had that with Tucker, but…

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-youth-movement-caissie-ballesteros