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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Maddie Lee

Cubs, Ian Happ reach three-year contract extension

Cubs left fielder Ian Happ had a strong start to the 2023 season. (Jeff Dean/AP)

After a skid in recent years, the Cubs went 2-for-2 on extension talks to start the year. 

Left fielder Ian Happ and the Cubs came to an agreement on a three-year contract extension, the team announced Wednesday. The deal is worth $61 million, according to multiple reports.

With Happ playing catch in left field before the Cubs’ game against the Mariners on Wednesday, a graphic on the Wrigley Field video boards congratulated Happ on the extension.

Happ has followed up his 2022 All-Star season with a hot start, going 11-for-35 with five extra-base hits and six RBI in the first 10 games of the season. 

As spring training came to a close, the momentum in extension talks between the two parties appeared to slow. But Happ told the Sun-Times: “I don’t think there’s any benefit of putting deadlines out there, so it’s a fluid conversation.”

Without an extension, Happ would have hit free agency this winter, as one of the top position players in the class. There was a sense, however, that he was willing to take a hometown discount to stay with the organization that drafted him in 2015.

Happ had a breakout season last year, taking steps forward in all facets of the game. He earned regular playing time, and with consistent at-bats from both sides of the plate, he hit for average (.305) as a right-handed batter and recorded 49 extra-base hits with his left-handed swing. He earned his first All-Star selection.

Playing left field regularly — rather than splitting time between left and center as he had the year before, or also playing in the infield as he had earlier in his career — Happ won a Gold Glove.

The Cubs also extended homegrown middle infielder Nico Hoerner before this season, on a $35 million deal that also extends through the 2026 season.

Before Hoerner, the last player to reach an extension with the Cubs was David Bote in 2019.

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