Cubs could lose Seiya Suzuki, Shota Imanaga to the NL West team that haunted them

The Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres have spent the past couple of years trading blows. The former won a tense Wild Card Series in 2025, only to get manhandled by the latter in the rematch this year. Neither team has advanced beyond the NLDS courtesy of the stonewall that is the Milwaukee Brewers, but both are clearly in windows of contention right now.

As such, they're set to take their battle off the field this offseason, competing for the same limited pool of talent in free agency. Both the North Siders and Friars desperately need starting pitching, though they'll also be searching for corner outfielders and leverage relievers prior to the lockout.

Perhaps it's no surprise to learn, then, that the Padres have begun setting their sights on a pair of Chicago stalwarts: Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki.

Padres could prove to be bane of Cubs' existence in free agency this offseason

Imanaga is the clearer fit of the Japanese pair with the Padres, with The Athetlic's Dennis Lin reporting that they like the southpaw's fit in Petco Park as a fly-ball pitcher. He'd certainly find those conditions more friendly than what the winds of Wrigley Field have done to him in recent years.

That would be a tough loss due to Imanaga's longstanding durability (he's tossed more than 170 innings twice over the past three years), but the Padres' rotation is even more barren than the Cubs' is right now, if you can believe it. That partnership would make a lot of sense, especially if we're to assume that Jed Hoyer and company will be focusing their efforts on the upper-echelon of the free-agent market for starters.

Suzuki would be the more crushing blow, particularly since he'd give the Friars more flexibility with how they deploy Fernando Tatis Jr., who is a capable second baseman on top of his usual stellar play in right field. That tandem -- alongside Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, and the Padres' plethora of well-compensated bats -- would certainly make the NL Wild Card race a little more frustrating in future seasons.

There is, of course, a trade-off here. If the Padres sign Suzuki, not only will they forfeit draft picks and international bonus money, but the Cubs will also gain a pick after the fourth round of the 2027 MLB Draft. More importantly, whatever resources are spent on bringing the right fielder to San Diego won't be allocated to pitchers, which could ease the market tension for some of the Cubs' top targets.

It remains to be seen what A.J. Preller and the Padres are actually capable of doing with their supposedly tight budget this offseason, but it should at least be clear now that they're going to be involved in a lot of the same rumors as the Cubs given their similar needs.

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