Thursday is the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to exchange salary figures for the 2026 season, and the Cubs have only three such players this year. After choosing not to tender contracts to Eli Morgan and Reese McGuire back in December, they were left with only Justin Steele and Javier Assad. Then they traded for Edward Cabrera, who is in his second year of arbitration.
As Patrick Mooney was first to report, the Cubs have agreed with Steele on a $6.775 million salary that is right in line with expectations.