I like Seiya Suzuki and what he’s brought to the Cubs. He’s been worth 11.1 bWAR in his four years with the team, about 3 WAR per season. He will hit his 100th home run as a Cub next year, most likely
(almost certainly, as he’s averaged 22 per season). The Cubs have wanted to plant roots in the Japanese player market and with Suzuki and Shōta Imanaga, they certainly have. I met quite a number of natives of Japan on my trip to Tokyo last spring who are Cubs fans because of Suzuki. That, most certainly, does have value to the franchise.
Suzuki was moved out of right field when the Cubs acquired Kyle Tucker by trade. Truth be told, he wasn’t a great outfielder in his first three years with the Cubs. Suzuki won NPB’s equivalent of MLB’s Gold Glove five times in Japan, but I didn’t see that sort of defense from him as a Cub.
He did wind up playing a fair number of games in right field due to injuries to Tucker in 2025. He started 32 games in right field, 14 in left field and one in center field this year, about a third of his total games, and added eight more right field starts in the postseason. The defensive numbers weren’t kind to Suzuki, but the eye test says he was at least adequate there.
Suzuki hit very well in the first half of the 2025 season, before the All-Star break: .263/.319/.547 with 25 home runs and 77 RBI in 92 games. There was talk of a 40-homer season. But like his teammate Pete Crow-Armstrong, Suzuki tailed off in the second half: .213/.336/.351 with just seven home runs in 59 games. He went 7-for-31 (.226) with three doubles and three home runs in the eight postseason games.
Suzuki turned 31 in August. He might wind up back in right field in 2026, assuming Tucker is not re-signed. He’s been a fairly consistent hitter throughout his MLB career. As noted above: 22 home runs per season and a career OPS of .818.
I’d like to see him stick around past 2026. Japanese players tend to age fairly well, and I don’t see any reason he couldn’t continue to perform at the current level for three more seasons after 2026.
Three years, $57 million, with a fourth-year option at $22 million or a $3 million buyout.
Who says no?
This concludes this brief series on contract extensions for Cubs players. I’ll have more to say and wrap this up in another article coming up at 12 noon CT.
