Where Will Shota Imanaga Sign After Opting Out with the Chicago Cubs?

Where Will Shota Imanaga Sign After Opting Out with the Chicago Cubs?

Where will Shoda Imanaga go? Most of the opt out news that we’ve heard over the last 48 hours is expected. Alex Bregman, even Robert Suarez, the list goes on and on. Peter Lonzo, Shotaaga’s situation was unique, guys. The Cubs, first of all, could have extended this to a 5-year contract from when they signed him. They would have had to lock in three more seasons now for $57.75 million. They said no. Then he gets a player option that he can exercise for $15.25 million. He said no. He’s getting more than one year of 15 on the free agent market. There is still one more layer that we don’t know about. I don’t think a decision is needed for a minute. The qualifying offer. It’s about $22 million this year. The Cubs can throw a qualifying offer his way. That would be more than the player option. He probably again would say no. It does hurt your free agency a bit. It often hurts one or two free agents per year and that’s what the qualifying offer is for to try and keep prices down for certain players. That happened to Nick Paveta last year and that was to the benefit of the Padres’s. So, I think the first question, AJ, is do you think this was the right call? We don’t know the medical, we don’t know everything else going on, but do you think No, you think he was worth the three years? A three or 57? Yeah. For me, the way he pitched, are you finding me another if if if Luis Robert you’re saying isn’t worth 20 million, Shai Managa is not worth 19 million. with the way he pitched and what he’s done and the excitement he brings and and the marketing that he brings. Let’s not forget there’s a big marketing component to this too with Shota. So I I I don’t understand this why the Cubs wouldn’t do this. They think they’re going to get him on a cheaper deal or there bigger better fish out there they can get. I I don’t I don’t understand this at all. I thought I I never even thought this was a possibility. I thought this was like okay show’s there for three more years. Uh nope. Surprise. The whole qualifying offer throws a wrench in it for me. I think they want him back. I don’t think they want three more years of him. I think they see him as somebody that will be 35 years old at the end of that contract, which in my opinion is not that old for pitchers. And we can name the pretty terrible list of pitchers that got paid $18 million for two years this off season, this past offseason, and you could have him for$19 million for three years a year. Um, I just I feel like the qualifying offer sets the Cubs up to be like, “Look, we did all that we could, and it’s really going to screw Shoda because he’s probably not going to get larger than the three-year deal.” And when you’re giving up a when you’re giving up a draft pick, teams are just going to they’re going to sit there and they’re going to heam and haul and then he’s going to have that what is it 20 21.7 I think this year is the qualifying offer. He’s going to have that hanging over his head and it’s going to hurt him or the Cubs will be like, “Hey, look, we offered it to him. Hey, that’s a lot of money. It’s more than you would have made before.” But the reality is it’s really undercutting his value for a guy that for the last two years has been great for this team. Can I bring up the other side? I love he is one of my favorites to watch. Had a much worse year. AJ, what I have a great team for him to go to. He loves Chicago. White Socks, baby. Yeah. Wait, but but his numbers were down a lot this year, guy. I’m just bring still will be good for a few years I know but you know it was 30 less innings the RA plus went from 137 which is fantastic to 103 the fifth the fielding independent pitching much higher the XR expected RA home run rate um was up walks up strikeouts down a lot strikeouts down from nine uh per nine innings so one per inning to 7.3 strikeout to walk obviously going down all that, right? So, the numbers did significantly decline in year two. Do you think there’s any concern that the Cubs feel as if the league figured him out a little bit? I’m just throwing this out there because no team knows the pitcher more than the team that he’s coming from. Even if he has the numbers he had right last year, is he worth 18 $19 million a year on the free agent market compared to another guy that’s going to possibly get 18 to 19 million? I think if okay I think if if we’re only if you’re the Cubs if you’re the Cubs if you’re the Cubs and you have a chance and you have a guy that’s a known commodity loves it in Wrigleyville has pitched well there has been to the playoffs has done all these things and you know him and you’re saying he’s not worth $19 million a year for three years 57 now you’re the Cubs $57 million that’s not that much if that should have been 25 numbers. If it’s 2025 numbers, if that’s all you’re guaranteeing me, then he is not worth that contract. Not at the 2025 numbers. He’s not. What? What? How can you say that? But this is what this is what organizations are doing. This is organizations will sit there and they’ll go, he did his home run his home run rate after he came back from the IIL was the worst in baseball. It carried into the postseason. Like we we don’t want this. They’re convincing themselves this is not a good option and that’s fine. You can do that. Your formula can say we don’t want him. Who are the Cubs going to get for the same price? Dollar for dollar, pitcher for pitcher, who are they going to get? And that’s where I think teams like the Cubs who are clearly they’re a playoff team. They wanted to make the playoffs. Uh they don’t quite want to go the rest of the way. They trade some of their guys to be able to get Kyle Tucker and then at the end of the season he kind of kind of petered out. So, we’re not going to go get him. We don’t Oh, we had Cody Bellinger. He had a great year for us and then he had a down year. We’re fine trading him instead of saying like the team that we just talked to Max Muny about. We’re pushing all in. We got everything we need. We have the core that we need. We have great pieces and Kate Horton, Justin Steel’s going to come back. We’re going to add another starting pitcher. We’re gonna keep Shotaa and we’re gonna add a mega piece to our lineup because we are a rich franchise that takes all the fans away from the White Socks and we have this entire city of Chicago. You guys are acting as if there’s nobody else on the free agent market. There is. Who are they going to get though? Okay. Okay. Just I I’m just presenting the other side because if you do truly believe that he’s 2025 version, that’s the decision. The free agent, Ranger Suarez, Michael, think he’s going to make less than 19 million or more than 19 million. Remember, it’s not about that. Now, if Okay, it is about that. If we go, it’s all about that stuff. All right, we got a break. It’s not. It’s all about that. If they go through the off seasonason and they don’t pick up somebody to replace him in the rotation, I think you can make a case. But if they say, “Hey, we’re going to save that 19 and we’re going to do 30 a year on King or Case or Framber or Ranger Suarez, guys like that,” then I think you can make a case that Cubs fans will be okay. Just throwing that out there. That’s all. It’s a good debate. We can continue this. Maybe we should bring on someone that watched, you know, all of his starts and can give us the perspective on the Cubs side and say, “Hey, here’s why the Cubs really didn’t like him for three years. I know that everyone’s really angry right now.” That’s good. That’s good.

The crew debates what’s next for Shōta Imanaga after opting out of his deal with the Chicago Cubs. AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, and Scott Braun break down why the Cubs declined to extend him, how a qualifying offer could affect his free agency, and whether his 2025 decline has teams hesitant. Plus, where Imanaga could land next — from a Cubs reunion to a potential Chicago White Sox move — and how his market compares to names like Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez, and Michael King.

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