Cubs Reportedly Reach Deal with Shota Imanaga

Nightengale mentioned that the deal will not be official until Imanaga undergoes a physical, which he is expected to do on Wednesday in Chicago.

With a slow and quiet offseason from the Cubs so far, Imanaga’s addition comes as a much-needed arm to a rotation that lost former NL All-Star Marcus Stroman to free agency at the end of the season.

Playing eight seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, Imanaga posted a career 3.18 ERA in just over 1,000 innings pitched. The lefty has a four-pitch mix in his repertoire that includes a splitter, slider, curveball, and a mid-90s fastball.

Imanaga led the NPB Central League last season in strikeouts with 174 in 148 innings, and over his last two seasons he’s posted a 2.53 ERA with 306 strikeouts in just over 290 innings. The two-time NPB All-Star will enter his age-30 season in 2024.

The move comes at an interesting time for the Cubs as the annual Cubs Convention is set to take place this coming weekend in Chicago. It will be interesting to see what the final line will be as far as Imanaga’s contract, but it’s nice to finally see Jed Hoyer pull the trigger on a move.

Maybe Imanaga’s signing is the first domino to fall in a pleather of moves Hoyer has in mind. Cubs fans are hoping he doesn’t take as long on the second signing as he did the first one.