BREAKING NEWS: All-Star pitcher Shota Imanaga opts out of Cubs deal and becomes a free agent | 今永昇太

BREAKING NEWS: All-Star pitcher Shota Imanaga opts out of Cubs deal and becomes a free agent | 今永昇太

While you were watching something else last night, there was some baseball news. Another new animation. Hey, we got breaking news on this one, Harold. This just came in this morning, like right now. Hot off the press. Uh courtesy of Jesse Rogers. Breaking news. Shota Ianaga is a free agent. Team rejects their option to extend his contract out to a fifth year. That triggered his ability to exercise a $15 million player option for 2026. He declined that as well. So, the backstory here, uh, no word on the qualifying offer here. Here’s some more, uh, information on this, Harold, because we we had questions, too, uh, and Mark Sales put together some notes for us here. So, the Cubs had a three-year option for him that would have guaranteed him just over 57 million, right? Cubs declined that option, and I think his second half performance had a lot to do with that Cubs decision. So, since they declined, he could have picked up a $15 million player option. And if he had done that, this whole thing would have repeated 15 or 50. 1515. Okay. And if he done that, then the whole thing would have repeated itself next year, right? Cubs pick up an option for a big piece of money. They could. So now that they’ve both declined the options, he’s a free agent and he’s he’s also a qualifying offer eligible free agent. So last year qualifying offer what 21 million somewhere in that range. You got to figure this guy was healthy. His arms there. I think with no doubt with what we saw from from uh Sasaki, from Shi and from Yamamoto affects this guy in a positive because it there’s no way in my mind he gets less than $60 million for three years. Somebody’s going to pay for that healthy arm. I guess he’s going to get paid. I mean, dude, if if you’re not a little scared by the second half, then pay closer attention. 20 homers. I mean, he’s a flyball guy to begin with, and those fly balls were leaving the ballpark after the All-Star break. You go to San Francisco and all of a sudden you got you got a star player. San Francisco, Anaheim, Seattle, huge Japanese markets, you know, when you look at San Fran and Seattle, all I need is one team. And now he starts to negotiate 60 million. We’re paying we’re paying some pitchers 2050 million a year to throw 20 starts. Well, we know this and your point’s well taken. He’s going to get the qualifying offer at very minimum this year. Right. Sounds like so saying no to the $15 million option already. That was easy, right? And I think also easy for the Cubs to say we don’t like the way this looks for three years. Yes. You know, if it was a one-year option they could have picked up, sure. But it’s a chunk thing that they had to say no to. get creative with that. Cubs are going to need somebody to pitch next year though because he did chew up a lot of innings. I’m telling you, he eats up innings. He stayed healthy and that’s what we don’t have in the big leagues, right? You don’t have it. Happy off season. And we have news. You heard Matt and Harold talking about Shota and Managa, a free agent. How and why the team started it. How’d we get here? Yes, Lauren. Good morning. First of all, yes, I’ve been uh sitting here in this chair since the end of game seven, ready to go. Happy off season. Happy hot stove season to all and we have some news this morning as Mattie talked about earlier. Jesse Rogers first to report Shota Imanaga is now officially a full free agent. Now it’s also true that the Cubs can give him the qualifying offer. So we have to see how that all plays out in the coming days. But this Lauren came down to two things. Number one, the Cubs believed that with the available options for them in free agency that they could do more with two years times $20 million per was a 2-year $40 million deal that they declined. So they believe that with the available options out there via trade, via free agency that they can add to their budget in a more constructive and efficient way with that money. And then on the flip side, Imanaga believes that with some corrections and adjustments to that second half that Mattie referenced, it seemed as though Imanaga may have come back early, Lauren, from that lower body injury that may have affected his effectiveness there in the second half. So with a full off season, Imanaga can’t believe that he’ll be able to have a much more first half of 2025 and really all of 2024 type season for him now going forward. So there’s the belief that a two or a three-year deal could be out there for him. So Ian Naga now joining a group of free agent pitchers that’s actually heavily on the left-handed side of the equation. There you see from Veraldez, Ranger Suarez. So three high-end lefties now with Chza joining that group. Shane Bieber, we’re still waiting to hear as of today about the outcome of that player option. Maybe Bieber and the Jays working on the potential of staying there in Toronto based on his success there of course helping them get to the seventh game of the World Series. Some other names there cease Gallon Efflin Kelly Basset Martinez and then on the reliever side of the equation I think some really intriguing names there. We know Ryan Helley for example did not pitch great uh into the second half but someone that they believe certainly could bounce back in a big way and have a strong season. Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, he just opted out. So I think Lauren, as as Matt Herald talked about earlier, plenty of depth there on the pitching side of the equation. And now the free agent bats, Pete Alonzo has officially opted out. Bregman has opted out. I think probably the biggest name, Kyle Tucker, the outfielder of course from the Chicago Cubs, as the guy has talked about. Maybe the production dipped a little bit in the second half. We’ll see what that nets out for his overall value. Kyle Schwarber, an MVP finalist. What an amazing year that he had. Bo Bashette, I think, in so many ways, helped his free agent cause, Lauren, with the way that he played uh hurt in the World Series. He showed the adaptability to play second base. That’s really important. Josh Naylor, I think if the Mariners win the ALCS, he might have been the ALCS MVP. He was that great for the Mariners there. And then Munitaka Murakami, one of the heroes for team Japan at the last WBC. He is going to be a posted player by the Yakultt swallows. He can play first or third. As well as Kazuma Okamoto from the Yamiri Giants. So, we have another very robust group of free agents and posted players coming over from Japan. So, a full menu, Lauren, of great topics for this off

@MLBNetwork discusses Shota Imanaga’s reported free agency. Imanaga became a free agent after the Cubs declined to exercise their team’s option and Imanaga declined his player option for 2026.

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