2026 Chicago Cubs Preview! (1/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Fantasy Baseball Today
CBS Sports, Fantasy Baseball, MLB, Baseball, Fantasy Sports, Fantasy Rankings, Waiver Wire
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
Chris Towers is joined by David Kaplan (@thekapman on X), radio host for ESPN Chicago and The REKAP. Hunter Harvey is a name to watch in the Cubs' bullpen. How much will Matt Shaw and Moises Ballesteros play? Watch out for Jaxon Wiggins in the second half.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's preview the Chicago Cubs for 2026. |
| 0:02.4 | Up next on Fantasy Baseball today. |
| 0:26.1 | Welcome to On the Beat, our mini team preview series here at Fantasy Baseball today. I am Chris Towers, joined by Dave Kaplan, Cap. The radio host for ESPN Chicago also has his own YouTube channel, The Recap, R-E-K-A-P with a K. Make sure to give him a follow-on X, the Cap Man.. We're here to talk about the Cubs who have had a very busy offseason, at least lately. |
| 0:32.0 | It had been pretty quiet up until the last couple of weeks, but they let Kyle Tucker walk, |
| 0:34.9 | replacing him with Alex Bregman, who signed a five-year deal. |
| 0:37.5 | They acquired Edward Cabrera from the Marlins. |
| 0:40.1 | Brought back Shodyima Naga on the qualifying offer. |
| 0:45.2 | I thought that was a kind of interesting one because didn't really, did it seem like the Cubs were kind of maybe hoping he didn't accept the qualifying offer? |
| 0:50.0 | They say that that is absolutely not true. |
| 0:52.6 | And it's great to be with you on your show, by the way. |
| 0:55.1 | The Cubs push back on that narrative that they were, oh, please don't take it. |
| 1:01.9 | Please don't take it. |
| 1:02.6 | We just want the draft pick. |
| 1:04.7 | There are others there that say we were cool with him accepting it. |
| 1:08.0 | We just didn't want a three-year commitment at what would have been |
| 1:12.1 | $57, $58 million. So look, my take on Chota was this. He had a really good first year. |
| 1:21.8 | Last year he got injured. He wasn't great. But in the biggest moment that you've played in, let's call it since 2017 when you lost in the NLCS, |
| 1:32.3 | in the biggest game you played, game five in Milwaukee, you are one step from playing the Dodgers for a shot to go to the World Series. |
| 1:42.1 | And they probably would have lost to the Dodgers, but you don't know that. We have no idea because they never played. And you said, I can't pitch that guy. I don't trust him. And Craig Counsel said, we just didn't feel showed it was the right matchup there. And now you're giving them a $7 million raise. I didn't like it, but it wasn't my call. |
| 2:03.1 | Yeah, in addition, the Cubs brought in a bunch of relievers, |
| 2:06.1 | Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Holden Miller, Caleb Thielbar, and Jacob Webb. |
| 2:10.8 | Do we still think Daniel Palencia is the favor for saves here in Chicago? |
... |
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