How Alex Bregman impacts Cubs, Nico Hoerner, and Matt Shaw

Everyone has a story for where they were when they found out the Cubs had signed Alex Bregman last Saturday. Most of the players, like the rest of the city of Chicago, were somewhere watching the Bears game. Jameson Taillon was at home, not far from where Bregman lives, and he said his new teammate FaceTimed him and asked if he could come over to celebrate.

“I was on the couch watching the Bears game, about to go to bed, and I cleaned up the place and made a margarita,” Taillon said.

Though the rest of the Cubs didn’t get to celebrate the signing with Bregman in person, there is a similar thread of excitement running through the team. The Cubs had a very good 2025, and with the additions of Bregman and starting pitcher Edward Cabrera, the prevailing sentiment is that they will be even better this season.

Much of that feeling is grounded in the tangible reality of what Cabrera and Bregman can do for the Cubs on the field. But, particularly in Bregman’s case, there’s also a sense of anticipation about the intangibles he will bring to the clubhouse. The Cubs did not lack for solid veteran presence before Bregman was signed, but even among those veterans, they expect Bregman’s presence on the team to raise them all to a different level.

“Good players, great leaders, they get the best out of everyone,” Dansby Swanson said. “I think we mistakenly see leadership as [only] helping to develop or cultivate younger players […] but there’s so much that can be done with veteran guys. There’s a lot of heights that can still be reached.

“I just feel like there’s such another level to my game, and other guys on the team, they feel the same way. That there’s heights that can be reached, and ceilings that haven’t been met yet. And when you add a guy like Alex, he can help get guys to that point.”

That’s exciting for the future of a team that feels like it could be on the cusp of something great. But the other side of moves like signing Bregman holds a reminder that none of these additions exist in a vacuum. Team president Jed Hoyer said on Friday that trading outfield prospect Owen Caissie to get Cabrera was a tough choice because of what it would mean for that organization’s depth at that position, and that he knew adding Bregman to his roster would have a direct impact on both Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw.

In Hoerner’s case, getting Bregman has sparked trade rumors. Hoyer said his phone has been busy ever since news of the deal broke on Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean a Hoerner trade is necessarily in the works.

“Nico knows how we feel about him,” Hoyer said. “And given how long we’ve been with him, and we’ve extended him. I think the world of Nico. I think the players that have been here a while understand this is a big city, it’s a big market, and when that happens, there’s going to be trade rumors.”

The sentiment that Cubs fans are feeling about the prospect of trading Hoerner — one shouted “Don’t trade Nico!” to chairman Tom Ricketts during Friday night’s opening ceremony of the 2026 Cubs Convention — and that feeling is shared by his teammates. Ian Happ called him one of his best friends in baseball, and Swanson used the world “irreplaceable” when asked about Hoerner.

As for Hoerner himself, he accepts the reality that comes with being a young, talented player with only a year left on his contract who now plays for a team that appears to have one too many starting infielders.

“It’s just a part of being close to free agency and not having a trade clause,” Hoerner said. “I think there’s different ways of phrasing [trade rumors] internally. Above all, just remembering that it’s not a personal thing and that the team’s job is to always make the best possible roster that the have the ability to do for this year and for years to come.”

But teams calling on Hoerner in the aftermath of the Bregman signing looks mostly like them doing their due diligence at this point. The more likely scenario is that Shaw has to take on some defensive flexibility and spot start in both the infield and the outfield.

The latter, in particular, might be his best bet for getting regular appearances in the lineup, not just in 2026 but probably beyond as well. Hoyer cited the defensive flexibility of the 2016 World Series team that had multiple players who spent time at more than one position, and some of those were guys like Ben Zobrist and Kris Bryant who moved from the infield to the outfield when needed.

Manager Craig Counsell was adamant on Friday that his team needs even more depth, so trading away a guy like Hoerner or Shaw would be moving in the opposite direction. Counsell said he spoke to Shaw after the news of the Bregman signing, and he said a part of that conversation was about preparing to play some outfield in 2026.

“Moving an infielder to the outfield is a little easier than the other way around,” Counsell said. “I think Matt’s shown that he’s a very good athlete. […] We’re not making something up out of thin air here. This is something that some talented players have been able to do, and I certainly have a lot of confidence that Matt can do it.”

Shaw said he found out about Bregman the same way a lot of fans did, via a phone notification. He said he was at home when his wife saw something pop up on her phone about the deal. Shaw said his initial reaction was laden with some degree of anxiety because of what it would mean for where he will play defensively.

“I just want to be prepared when the season comes around, so of course I immediately have questions like, ‘Am I going to go here? Am I going to go there?'” Shaw said.

He added that the team has been transparent with him about what his role is going to look like in the upcoming season, and it will definitely include playing multiple infield positions and spending time in the outfield, something Shaw hasn’t done since early in his college career. In 2025, of the 128 games Shaw played, all but four of them were at third base.

“It’s going to be a unique year, for sure, but something that I definitely look forward to,” Shaw said.

When Bregman was introduced at his press conference at Wrigley Field on Thursday, he said he chose the number 3 for his uniform because he wants to win a third World Series trophy. The night he signed, he posted about the Bears after their playoff win over the Packers. He’s since been to a Blackhawks and a Bulls game, and Bregman said he plans to attend Sunday’s Bears playoff game against the Rams along with a few teammates. Just a week in, it seems Chicago is already in Bregman’s blood.

The hard truth of a signing like Bregman is that it has an impact on guys like Hoerner and Shaw, but having Bregman on the field and in the clubhouse makes those things worth it, especially if Bregman’s new jersey number does turn out to be a positive omen.