Ian Happ is one of the most underappreciated Cubs — maybe ever.
He’s played 10 seasons with the team, producing 25.3 bWAR. That ranks 27th among all Cubs position players — ever. He has hit 197 home runs with the team, which ranks 11th in team history — one behind Hank Sauer for 10th. He’s won four Gold Gloves and is likely to get a fifth when those awards are announced next month.
And yet, Happ seems disliked by many Cubs fans. Why? Maybe it’s the batting average. He hit a career-low .218 in 2026
and his career BA is just .243.
As most of us know, batting average is not a good way to make a complete evaluation of a player. Happ walks. A lot. His 621 walks rank 15th in franchise history and his .341 career OBP is pretty good, as is his .442 career SLG, which ranks 43rd in team history.
Is Happ a great player? No, he’s not. Is he a solid building block any team should be happy to have? Absolutely, and beyond that are the compliments his teammates gave him after the season ended, starting with Dansby Swanson:
“He’s meant a lot to me,” Swanson finally continued. “I think he truly embodies what it means to wear the jersey. And I know he would probably never say that himself, but the tradition and legacy that I feel like he’s carried on from that ’16 team, just the lessons that he has learned, he’s taught me a lot.
“He’s one of my longest friends that I’ve had here, so yeah, that probably speaks enough for itself. He embodies the Cubs more than anyone I know. He’s a big reason why I’m here, and I’m very thankful for him.”
“Happer, he is the Chicago Cubs,” said center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. “I know he loves this place and he kind of helped teach me how to love this place and play here. He’s played a very big role in this version of me so far up to this point.”
You might not think those things matter. I think they do. Clearly players think they do.
Now, having said all that, I would think the Cubs would hesitate signing a guy coming off a pretty bad year to any sort of long-term extension. Yesterday I wrote about Seiya Suzuki and how much I think he means to the Cubs and how they should bend every effort to keep him.
Happ and Suzuki are almost exactly the same age — Happ is six days older. My personal feeling is that Suzuki will age better than Happ will and that Suzuki is more worth a long-term deal.
The most I would give Happ is a one-year deal with a vesting option. If he has a good year in 2027, then sure, extend him into 2028. The Cubs will almost certainly make him a qualifying offer and he just might take it. I’d be okay with that, too.
The alternative might be some sort of combination of Kevin Alcántara, Pedro Ramírez and Matt Shaw in left field for the Cubs in 2027, and personally, I think that would be a significant downgrade.
What say you?
