Cubs Expected To Extend Qualifying Offer To Seiya Suzuki

The Chicago Cubs will lose a handful of key players this coming offseason. 

The Cubs have a long list of free agents who could leave. Players like Kevin Gausman, Shota Imanaga, Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Carson Kelly, Matthew Boyd, and Clay Holmes are all expected to test the open market. 

But before those players officially hit free agency, the Cubs have one more opportunity to try to prevent them from testing the waters. The front office could offer a qualifying offer to any player who spent the entire season with the team and has never received one before. 

That means the Cubs could not offer Gausman, Imanaga, Kelly, or Holmes a qualifying offer. The team acquired Gausman and Holmes at the deadline, and Kelly and Imanaga have both received a qualifying offer in the past. 

That still leaves players like Happ, Suzuki, and Boyd as potential candidates to receive a qualifying offer from the Cubs. None of those three players have received one before in their careers, and all three spent the entire 2026 season in Chicago. 

Last offseason, the Cubs offered both Kyle Tucker and Imanaga the qualifying offer. Tucker declined it, while Imanaga accepted the $22.025 million offer. 

This offseason, the expectation is that the Cubs will give the qualifying offer to Suzuki. Jon Heyman reported that Chicago will give Suzuki the qualifying offer to keep him off the free-agent market. This year’s qualifying offer will be up slightly to $23.15 million. 

Now there’s a strong chance that Suzuki will decline that qualifying offer and test the open market. He definitely deserves a multi-year contract, given how his last few years have gone with the Cubs. 

Suzuki slashed .245/.326/.478 with 32 home runs, 31 doubles, 103 RBI, and five stolen bases in 151 games in 2025, and then slashed .270/.368/.473 with 26 home runs, 31 doubles, 86 RBI, and three stolen bases in 143 games this past season. 

While Suzuki posted the best power numbers of his career in 2025, his best all-around season came in 2026. The Japanese slugger finished with a career-best 5.1 WAR. He lifted his batting average 25 points from the prior season and was also an above-average defender in right field. Suzuki was recently named a Gold Glove finalist for his defense. 

The 32-year-old outfielder will get paid this offseason. The Cubs will try to keep him from reaching free agency by offering him a qualifying offer. But there’s a strong chance Suzuki declines it.