Shota Imanaga is returning to the Cubs in 2026.

The left-hander accepted the one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer extended by the Cubs and is no longer a free agent, Patrick Mooney of the Athletic reported, citing league sources. Kyle Tucker also was extended the QO, but declined it, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The slugger was expected to turn it down as the top free agent on the market.

[MORE: Cubs’ Tom Ricketts issues statement on Kyle Hendricks’ retirement]

Imanaga’s decision comes as a bit of a shocker — he’s just the 18th player (of 157) to accept the one-year pact since the QO was implemented in 2012. Gleyber Torres, Brandon Woodruff and Trent Grisham also accepted the QO this week.

Final accounting on qualifying offers, per sources:

Trent Grisham (Yankees), Gleyber Torres (Tigers), Brandon Woodruff (Brewers) and Shota Imanaga (Cubs) all accepted the one-year, $22.025 million contract to return for 2026.

The nine other players offered rejected the deal.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 18, 2025

The 32-year-old received the offer from the Cubs after they rejected a three-year club option worth $57 million. That triggered a one-year, $15 million player option which Imanaga turned down.

It was the end of the season that led to the difficult decisions.

The left-hander allowed 12 home runs in his final six starts, then struggled in the postseason, allowing six runs on three home runs in 6.2 innings across two games (one start). In the Cubs’ decisive Game 5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series, Imanaga warmed up twice but never pitched in the game. The decline, coupled with his age, meant the Cubs did not want to pick up the three-year club option that included a full no-trade clause.

Imanaga and his agency, Octagon, assumed they could do better than the player option and proved to be right with the qualifying offer. Now, he and the Cubs will hope he can return to some version of the pitcher he was in his first season-and-a-half in Chicago.

Imanaga had a strong rookie campaign, in which he posted a 2.91 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP and finished in the top five in voting in both the NL Cy Young Award and NL Rookie of the Year. That campaign made him the Cubs’ Opening Day starter in the Tokyo Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025.

He had a 2.95 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP in his first career 48 games in the majors. He dazzled fans from the moment he joined the organization, singing “Go Cubs Go” at his introductory press conference at Cubs Convention in 2024.

Despite his return, the Cubs will still be on the hunt for pitching this offseason – that’s not a secret. In their eight-game playoff venture, Cubs manager Craig Counsell had just two starters he trusted – Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd. Cade Horton’s injury in his final start of the year meant he missed the playoffs. The Cubs will need pitching for a rotation that includes that trio, plus Colin Rea and Javier Assad.

“I think we’re gonna have an active offseason. Take that for what it’s worth,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer told reporters at last week’s GM Meetings in Las Vegas. “I think the largest focus will be on pitching. That’s obvious — look at our depth chart. We’re in pretty good position on the position player side — on the pitching side, we’re thinner.”

That depth Hoyer touted is why the Cubs’ relationship with Tucker might end after one season. The Cubs can slide Seiya Suzuki – who DH’ed for most of 2025 – into right field and use either some prospect combination of Moisés Ballesteros, Kevin Alcántara or Owen Caissie in the DH role and rotate players there, too, to provide partial days off. Alcántara and Caissie can also split time with Suzuki in right field.

But there’s no mistaking the impact Tucker had on the Cubs. The left-handed hitting slugger clubbed 17 home runs with a .931 OPS through June, when the Cubs had a 50-35 record. A hairline fracture in his right hand sliding into second base against the Cincinnati Reds on June 2 might have led to some bad habits that caused him to slump in the second half. He posted a .690 OPS and hit just five home runs from July 1 on and the Cubs were 42-35.

He’s expected to be the top free agent this offseason and the bidding war for him might mean the Cubs don’t bring him back to Chicago. If that’s the case, the Cubs would receive a draft pick since Tucker declined the QO.