We’ll see whether Seiya Suzuki returns to the Cubs next season, but the team made an effort to retain his services Monday.
The Cubs tendered a qualifying offer to the free-agent right fielder, a one-year deal worth $23.15 million. Suzuki has until Nov. 17 to accept. If he declines and signs with another team, the Cubs will get a draft pick in exchange for his departure.
Suzuki is ranked as one of the top hitters on this offseason’s free-agent market, and with the Cubs geared up to heavily focus their efforts on improving the pitching staff this winter, it would perhaps be unsurprising for another team to land him with a big-money contract.
But the Cubs know how important Suzuki was to their lineup during the last five seasons, his 128 OPS-plus as a major leaguer making him 28 percent more productive than the average hitter.
Suzuki posted a career-best .368 on-base percentage this season and hit 26 home runs, a total he eclipsed just once previously, when he hit 32 homers in 2025. His 81 walks were his most in a single major league season, and his dramatically improved defense in right field made him a Gold Glove finalist and contributed to a 5.1 bWAR that blew away his previous career high in that category.
“Looking back at the five years, I don’t know if I was able to reach the expectations that people had or [that I had] myself. Each year, there was frustration at the end of the year,” Suzuki said through an interpreter. “Looking back at it, I felt I did get better. I worked hard.
“The plus was, this last year, that my defense improved a lot, and all that work I put in, that did help me improve.
“Looking back, there’s a lot of ‘what ifs’: Did I meet the expectations people had about me and that I had about myself?”
The offensive numbers speak to a player who did make a significant contribution, and throughout the season, he was for long stretches, quietly, the second best hitter – behind MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong – in a lineup that ended up leading the sport in runs scored.
Suzuki’s potential departure could create two holes in the Cubs’ outfield, with left fielder Ian Happ also a free agent, though not one expected to demand the sort of interest – and spending – Suzuki is.
But team president Jed Hoyer has hammered home his intention to focus on pitching improvements, possibly pointing to ascensions to more regular playing time in the outfield for in-house candidates such as Matt Shaw or Pedro Ramirez.
“My family, they love Chicago. But with free agency, that’s something for me. There’s a lot of processes involved with that,” Suzuki said. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but being in Chicago, my family loves it and there’s very good memories with the Cubs.”
