Chicago Cubs: Red-hot Happ, Suzuki making free agency decision extra hard for Cubs

The Chicago Cubs, as of this writing, are officially in first place, atop the NL Central Division with a 21-12 record. They have the second-best record in the National League and the third-best in all of baseball.

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And this is while being slammed with a barrage of early-season pitching injuries that would’ve broken lesser teams already.

Assuming most of the injured arms come back and nobody else goes down for an extended period of time, the Cubs are actually in a really good place to make some noise this postseason.

But, after that, there’s another big problem awaiting them—a possible mass exodus of veteran talent via free agency at the end of this 2026 season.

Among the names potentially eligible for free agency are Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Carson Kelly, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki. This is an especially vexing situation when it comes to the two outfielders on the list.

Happ and Suzuki making free agency decision difficult

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Left fielder Happ and right fielder Suzuki are both having tremendous years so far and both are making the case for a return to the Cubs. Happ’s impact has been all over the field—both offensively and defensively—and he’s on a pace to have a career year with the bat. Suzuki, meanwhile, has been raging since a knee injury kept him sidelined for the first two weeks of the season. He’s also on pace to have a career offensive year.

It’s widely believed, however, that Chicago won’t be willing or maybe able to bring both back.

So, what do they do?

Happ is the more consistent of the outfielders and has four consecutive Gold Gloves to prove his defensive worth. Suzuki is the more explosive, but unpredictable, of the two with the greater offensive upside. Both are 31 and are considered in the physical prime of their careers.

Will they stay or will they go?

The corner outfielders have had impending free agency on their minds since the offseason and neither is sounding all that sure that they’ll be back with Chicago for 2027 and beyond.

“I’m not sure,” Suzuki told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, via interpreter, during spring training. “It depends on my performance. If I perform well, I want to stay. I feel like I still haven’t put up the numbers that people are expecting me to. It comes down to how I perform.”

Happ also sounded unsure of his Cubs future during Cactus League play.

“It’s been a true honor for me to represent this great city, organization and fan base,” Happ told reporters at the time. “The reality of this is, you can’t control if the team wants you back. It’s totally plausible another chapter elsewhere awaits me.”

Unlike teammates Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong, Happ and Suzuki are unlikely to get extension deals. If/when they head out into the open market, they’ll be among the top position players in a fairly weak free agent talent pool ahead of the 2027 season. Teams will be willing to pay a handsome price to have one or the other on their team.

The Cubs just have to decide if they want to spend that kind of money to bring them back when they will also, most definitely, need pitching replacements as well.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-ian-happ-seiya-suzuki-free-agency-decision/