MLB Roundtable: Cubs Add Pitching Depth With Shōta Imanaga
After two weeks of relative quiet, MLB free agency got a jolt in pitcher Shōta Imanaga signing a four-year, $53 million deal with the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. After 2025 and ’26, the team will have the option to extend the contract to five years and $80 million. If it does not, Imanaga can opt out and become a free agent.
Imanaga, 30, has pitched the last eight seasons in his native Japan and posted a 3.18 ERA over eight seasons in NPB.
Stephanie Apstein and Emma Baccellieri weigh in on the move.
What should fans expect from Imanaga?
Baccellieri: The contract here seems like a fair indicator. Imanaga isn’t expected to be a superstar in MLB, but he can be a solid left-handed mid-rotation addition who provides some useful depth. His strikeout numbers are very encouraging. His fly ball rate and home run numbers are less so. But he’s coming off a career year with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars—a 2.80 ERA with a 10.6 K/9—and carries a promising track record of consistency and durability. There’s not a one-to-one translation from NPB to MLB, but the Cubs aren’t counting on Imanaga to carry this rotation. They’re counting on him to help fill it out as a No. 3 or No. 4 starter with intriguing upside. Imanaga should be able to do just that. And if his name sounded familiar before this winter? It’s probably from the World Baseball Classic, where he started for Team Japan against the U.S. Here’s Imanaga striking out Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning of that championship game:
Shota Imanaga, Nasty 84mph Split-Change. ???? pic.twitter.com/WLgTLkInwJ
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 21, 2023
Apstein: Imanaga got less money than many people expected, perhaps in part due to the artificial deadline imposed by the posting window, which was set to expire Thursday. He was reportedly asking for $100 million, and MLB Trade Rumors, which is usually pretty good at this sort of thing, projected him to get $85 million over five years. I do wonder whether the lower number he ended up with reflects a concern about his ability to hold up physically. He should be pretty good when he pitches; I think the Cubs may try to give Imanaga a start off here or there to help him stay healthy.
How much do the Cubs have left to do this offseason?
Baccellieri: Bringing in Imanaga and new manager Craig Counsell qualifies as a solid start to the offseason. But it’s only a start. If the Cubs want to qualify for the playoffs in 2024—they missed out by just one game in ’23—they desperately need to figure out what they’re doing at first base. The most obvious answer here would be bringing back Cody Bellinger, though he might end up commanding a fairly high price tag, as the best hitter in a market that has rather limited options at the plate this winter. That means the Cubs might go with someone like Rhys Hoskins instead. But they need to find someone. Counting on rookie Matt Mervis as the only option to handle first base won’t cut it. And while they’re adding? Another bench bat and some bullpen depth would surely be appreciated.
Apstein: I’d also like to see Chicago add another veteran starter. Imanaga may need some time off as he transitions from the once-a-week NPB schedule to MLB’s five-man rotation, No. 4 Kyle Hendricks is 34 and the team’s current plan for the No. 5 starter is to let a few rookies battle it out. I think it would make Counsell’s life a lot easier if he could rely on, say, James Paxton or Alex Wood to fill some of those innings.
Is there a better nickname in baseball than Imanaga’s “The Throwing Philosopher”?
Apstein: Probably not. The closest one I can think of belongs to San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, whose father, Jong Beom Lee, holds the single-season stolen-base record in the KBO and was as a result nicknamed the Son of Wind. Jung Hoo Lee now goes by the Grandson of Wind.
Baccellieri: My biggest takeaway here is just how sadly unoriginal most of the American nicknames we have in MLB are. Adding -y to a player’s last name does not a nickname make! We need to get more existential. May “The Throwing Philosopher” spark inspiration.