Shota Imanaga accepts, Kyle Tucker declines qualifying offer | Cubs 360 | Marquee Sports Network

Shota Imanaga accepts, Kyle Tucker declines qualifying offer | Cubs 360 | Marquee Sports Network

[Music] All right, as expected, the wheels continue to spin right here on Cubs 360 offseason edition, and today is the day. Pull up a chair, come on in because we have news to bring to you. I’m Cole Wright alongside our Marquee Sports Network contributor. He is the one and only Bruce Levine. And with qualifying offers being issued, one has indeed been accepted at 22 million and a little bit of change. Show to Emanaga. He’s back with the Chicago Cubs. Your initial reaction, Bruce. Well, initial reaction is, you know, it it’s a guarantee of a veteran pitcher giving you innings. He’s always done that. Last year he had the injury to the hamstring. Took him he was out for six weeks. But this guy throughout his career in Japan, I mean, he’s been pitching 15 years. So he knows what he’s doing out there. He’s hard to hit. We know about the home run factor. Fact that, you know, that was ticked up quite a bit last year compared to the innings pitch. So that’s the one factor, but giving up base hits, batting average, uh he’s a very good pitcher, a veteran guy that you can count on. So I think that they’re they’re back. Happy that he is back. Number number two, uh it solidifies their their starting pitching. They can go out and move ahead knowing that they’re solidified with at least four or five starting pitchers going into the season. Okay, we’ll get to the nuts and bolts of the rotation. You did see that there was an uptick in home runs and a downtick in velocity. So, how surprised are you that showed that Imanaga did not go out and test those waters and he did accept the offer? Well, you know, there’s a couple things here. number one the the looming work stoppage that can happen in 2027. So, you know, the temperature in the market, it was a little bit light as far as long-term deals. Uh obviously, after the Cubs turned down the three-year deal with SHO, he turned down the one year, he’s looking at this one year at a higher mark, he can go back, reestablish himself, come back and get a longer term deal next year or the year after. But also, it also opens up the idea that after a one-year deal, if there’s a work stoppage here, there’s nothing stopping him from going back to Japan and pitch. And at that age, at age 33, you know, you’re you’re going to want to continue your career. You know, he’s already made a good amount of money here in the United States. No reason not to go back home. Yeah. Hopefully, there’s still plenty of tread left on the tires. Like you said, he’s been pitching for 15 seasons and the 31 home runs allowed a season ago. Hopefully that is not a key indicator at a potential falloff. So, how do you see Sha Imanaga fitting in to this fiveman rotation, Bruce? Well, very well. I mean, now that he’s used to u pitching every 5 days, and the Cubs have done a phenomenal job of skipping him when they can, protecting him because in Japan, you basically only pitch once a week. Kate Horton’s in the four spot. Did Did you put this rotation together, Bruce? Well, I hope not. Have you have to talk to Miller about that? Andrew Miller, let’s get on top of things here. But but I mean when you look at the rotation, there’s some solid guys there. Now you have Horton who’s your only power arm. That that’s the only concern that you have right now is fact that you have good pitchers. Steel’s not going to be back till May. You don’t know about uh innings limit. So the Cubs have a lot of work to do still as far as starting pitching goes. You’re not you’re not counting Ben Brown who’s had success as a starting pitcher. You’re not looking at Wix. Uh Wiggins coming up from the minor leagues, a power arm that can be throwing around 100 miles an hour. You never know how quickly that might ascend. Absolutely. And we’ll see how everything shakes out. And we also know that at the general manager meetings in Las Vegas, Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations, he said that the Cubs, they’re going to be zeroing in on top flight pitching. So, is there still some wiggle room right there to add someone potentially to that rotation? I would say I mean, you know, the commitment right now is probably around $180 million. So, last year they were at 210, but with the with the CBT it was around $230 million. Even if they go up to that amount, there’s still plenty of money left. And we’re we’re also not considering the fact that trades could be made with players that are on the team right now. Okay. So, we don’t know if somebody is looking at a Horner or asking Hap or Suzuki to wave uh their no trade. Okay. So, these are things that are all possibilities going into the year. I’m not saying the Cubs are looking to trade these guys because we’re not putting words into their mouth, but these are options that they talk about all the time. Okay. In other news, we just told you that Sha Imanaga, he did accept the qualifying offer. And Kyle Tucker, as we all thought, he declined. 22 million, not necessarily rich enough for his blood. He’s going to go out there and test those waters. So, were you surprised by the fact that he declined? No, not at all. I mean, you know, he’s the the pro projections out there is for him to get somewhere between 350 and $400 million. Is he is he cut from that kind of cloth? Not to disparage anything that Kyle Tucker brings to the table, but you see obviously show Otani. Does he want that money? Is that what you Why would he not? But is there a team that’s really going to pay him? I mean, I know there’s injuries that seem to crop up year after year. However, the numbers when he’s healthy, he’s a damaged. The smart money is on the Dodgers always. Okay. They have a lot of money. Yeah. And they have And believe it or not, they don’t think they have enough offense, right? So, even with some of the greatest players now and maybe some in history, they still don’t think they have enough. So, for Tucker, a contract for the Dodgers, not a big deal. You always look at the Yankees. You always look at Toronto is a team that is being talked about a lot when it comes to Tucker. Okay. Now, there’s a potential comp pick if Kyle Tucker does decide to close that door with Chicago Cubs and sign elsewhere. And taking a look at some of those compensatory picks. There’s MVPs littered right here. You see Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Matt Olsen. A lot of people saying that he could be quite possibly the best defensive first baseman in the history of the game. Josh Donaldson and David Wright. His metrics, they’re above Keith Hernandez, Bruce, so take the numbers for what you will, but how about these picks? The Cubs, they could fall into a gold mine here. They might, but again, you know, keep in mind through history through from 2012 when they started with this type of uh draft compensation, there’s only been 14 in history that have taken it. So, to get drafts like that, good luck. I mean, I hope you do. Cubs hope they do, but certainly it’s it’s a um it’s a roadblock block for the player, right? That’s the risk for a guy that’s a marginal player that’s looking to get big money from somewhere else because teams are very reticent to give up any top picks these days. I mean, it’s uh it’s the currency that really drives Major League Baseball young players right now. All right, we’re going to find out. Will Kyle Tucker be able to dip his toes into those Show Otani and Juan Stoodto waters? Uh, they are very rich waters at this current time. Only time will tell. We’ll find out. But there’s still more to get to right here on Cubs 360 because next on deck, a deeper dive into arbitration. What a player’s worth. With the deadline looming, Lance and Katie, they examine the player or ecosystem ahead right here on Cubs 360. Don’t go anywhere. [Music] Heat up here. [Music]

Marquee Sports Network’s Cole Wright and Bruce Levine discuss on “Cubs 360” the breaking news that pitcher Shota Imanaga will accept the Chicago Cubs’ $22.025 million qualifying offer for the 2026 season, but Kyle Tucker declined the offer and will test free agency.

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Shota Imanaga accepts, Kyle Tucker declines qualifying offer | Cubs 360 | Marquee Sports Network