Many of you think that’s it for the Cubs, that they aren’t going to go after another free agent starter such as Dylan Cease, Michael King or Tatsuya Imai, who was posted by his NPB team, the Seibu Lions. Imai’s posting was made official as of today, which leaves a 45-day window for him to sign with a MLB team. If he doesn’t come to an agreement with any MLB team by Jan. 2, he would return to Seibu.
I don’t think this is it for the Cubs. I believe they would like to add one more starter, and Imai seems a good fit for the Cubs. From Josh’s article:
The more optimistic projections compare him to Kodai Senga, who has been good but has also had troubles staying healthy. His career numbers in Japan are surprisingly similar to Imanaga’s, although they get to that destination through two very different approaches. Imanaga was also much older than Imai when he came over.
Jeff Passan, for his part, called Imai the “perfect” signing for the Cubs.
Imai is 27, which means a longer-term deal might be worth it for the Cubs. He was 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA in 2025 for Seibu and struck out 178 batters in 163.2 innings with just 45 walks. That would fit in well with a Cubs staff that is very stingy with walks.
As you can see from this chart, Imai has a varied pitch selection, averages 95 with his fastball and can dial it up to 99:
Here are seven minutes of Imai highlights from 2024.
MLB Trade Rumors projects Imai to get a six-year, $150 million deal. ESPN says six years, $135 million. At his age and ability, that’s almost certainly worth it. (There would also be a $22.125 million posting fee due to the Lions, which of course would not count against the Cubs’ salary or luxury tax counts.)
Here’s another thing that you might think doesn’t matter, but I think it does. The Cubs have made considerable inroads in the Japanese market, perhaps second only to the Dodgers, by signing Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki. I can tell you from my personal experience in Tokyo last spring that this has made a difference. I had conversations with quite a few locals there who had become Cubs fans because of Suzuki and Imanaga being Cubs. It’s one of the reasons the Cubs were chosen as part of the Tokyo Series last March. Jed Hoyer has gone on record as saying that this is important to the team. Having one more very good Japanese player on the team can only make the Cubs more prominent in Japan, where again, I can tell you the whole country really is baseball-crazy.
It also helps with marketing, though that’s not a reason to sign a player. I see more Imanaga and Suzuki jerseys at Wrigley Field than almost any other current Cub, save perhaps Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong. If you think this doesn’t matter to the business side, yes it does. Again, teams don’t sign a player for this reason, but it sure doesn’t hurt the bottom line.
I will split the difference, sort of, between those two figures above and say that the Cubs should offer Imai a six-year, $140 million deal. That’s an AAV of $23.333 million, something the team can easily afford.
Get it done, Jed and Tom.