To date, the Chicago Cubs have not made any free agency purchases. That will probably change eventually. However, it is yet unknown when and which player will benefit from it.
According to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the Cubs may be interested in Shota Imanaga, another free-agent Japanese pitcher.
The Cubs are the only team that could be considering this, though.
Heyman predicted that the Giants, Red Sox, Cubs, and other teams would be interested in Imanaga.
Despite a clear hole in its starting rotation, at least one team—the New York Yankees—isn’t expressing any interest in the 30-year-old left-hander.
The Cubs don’t seem inclined to bring back seasoned player Marcus Stroman, so they must also have a need in that area.
The Cubs have four returning starters: Kyle Hendricks, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, and Javier Assad, according to the team roster at MLB.com. Jordan Wicks, who made his Major League debut in Stroman’s place and shown himself to be a quality starter in the latter half, might be the fifth.
Wicks is on the 40-man roster and is probably going to be the main option to watch in Spring Training, along with Drew Smyly and former first-round choice Cade Horton, who is getting close to being ready for the Majors. The website does not show Wicks as a member of the rotation.
After Blake Snell, the best free agent on the market right now, Imanaga is among the next tier of pitchers available. Although Imanaga doesn’t have the same skill set as Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he still has a strong track record in Japanese baseball.
He has a 2.79 ERA, 26.2 percent strikeout rate, and 5.9 percent walk rate with the Yokohama BayStars since 2019. With a 2.80 ERA in the previous season, he struck out almost thirty percent of the batters he faced. Less than four percent of hitters were walked by him. He tossed a no-hitter the previous season.
Imanaga must reach a resolution by January 11th, failing which his rights will return to Yokohama.