Chicago Cubs: Thoughts on Happ, Suzuki qualifying offers

The Chicago Cubs have a lot of big decisions to make this offseason.

First, they pretty much have to reconstruct an entire starting rotation. After Matthew Boyd and Clay Holmes official declined their player options on Thursday, opting to put themselves on the open market, the team now has its entire end-of-season starting rotation likely departing via free agency.

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The Cubs need to fortify their bullpen, preferably with some back-of-bullpen, closer-capable reinforcement.

As an influx of new pitchers come in, they also have to make a decision on how or if to keep their free agency-bound catcher Carson Kelly.

Then, there’s the issue of their two corner outfielders—left fielder Ian Happ and right fielder Seiya Suzuki—who are set to become free agents as well.

The Happ, Suzuki dilemma

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Chicago is in a tough spot when it comes to the pair of 32-year-olds. They have almost nobody in-house to replace them adequately and there just aren’t many replacement options in a shallow free agent talent pool this offseason.

So, could there be a chance the Cubs keep one or both? Probably not. Keeping one, though, could be an option, but only at the right price under the shortest possible contract—something which probably makes Happ more likely to return than Suzuki, who could land a 4-year deal in free agency for over $100 million.

The Cubs, however, are expected to extend a $23.1 million qualifying offer to Suzuki for sure and could very well do the same with Happ.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently posted a piece regarding his thoughts on who may or may not receive qualifying offers from their team and touched on the Cubs’ corner outfielders.

Miller on Happ:

“This might be the toughest call of them all. Not only do the Cubs also have Seiya Suzuki as an outfielder who is indisputably even more deserving of a QO, but they need to put in quite a bit of work on their pitching staff this winter. That makes it feel slightly more likely than not that they just let Happ explore free agency without attaching any draft pick compensation to him.”

Miller on Suzuki:

“Suzuki turned 32 in August and probably isn’t going to come all that close to the five-year, $150M contract that Kyle Schwarber signed at the same age last winter. But four years for $100M or even $110M is entirely feasible on the open market, given how consistently well he has hit the ball throughout his MLB career to date.”

No long-term commitment

Chicago has some legit outfield prospect studs in their system—Josiah Hartshorn, Kane Kepley, Ethan Conrad—and would like to stay away from committing to a long-term contract with a 30-something outfielder. None of the Cubs’ top outfield prospects are expected to be major league-ready in 2027, so they need somebody in those spots—and the mix of Matt Shaw, Pedro Ramirez, and Kevin Alcantara doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Maybe the best and most realistic hope is for Happ to accept the qualifying offer and play one more season for the Cubs as he looks to bounce back from an off 2026. They could then rig some sort of platoon system for right field, possibly featuring a lower-level pickup acquired via trade or free agency.

This Cubs offseason should be quite interesting indeed.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-ian-happseiya-suzuki-qualifying-offers-2027/