Rumors: Giants, Red Sox among finalists for free agent lefty

"Shota Imanaga finalists are the #RedSox #Cubs #Angels #Giants according to sources," Bowden shared in a Tweet on Friday.

Bowden's report was released before the Giants trade on Friday to acquire left-handed pitcher Robbie Ray from the Seattle Mariners. Giants president of team operations Farhan Zaidi seemed to suggest that would make the team less aggressive in free agency, but there's reason to believe that could be a smoke screen. Zaidi acknowledged that this trade had been in the works for some time, meaning interest in Imanaga would not seemingly be disconnected from the Ray acquisition.

Imanaga, who turned 30 in September, made 22 starts atop the BayStars rotation this season. He recorded a 2.80 ERA with 174 strikeouts and just 24 walks in 148 innings pitched. This spring, before the season, Imanaga rounded out an incredible rotation with Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic that also featured Ohtani, Yamamoto, Yu Darvish, and Roki Sasaki. Imanaga allowed two runs on a pair of solo homers across six innings pitched (three appearances) with seven strikeouts and zero walks.

Imanaga reached the highest level of the NPB at 22. Over eight seasons, Imanaga has recorded a 3.18 ERA with 1021 strikeouts and 280 walks in 1002.2 innings pitched (165 games). It's also worth noting that Imanaga's career numbers are heavily inflated by a disastrous 2018 campaign, where he posted a 6.80 ERA and surrendered 18 home runs in 84.2 innings pitched. His career ERA in the NPB drops from 3.18 to 2.84 by omitting that lone season.

Imanaga has a four-pitch arsenal and has flashed the ability to generate whiffs with all of his offerings. The closest recent NPB to MLB statistical comp is Yusei Kikuchi, but even that seems imperfect since Imanaga's arsenal has the potential to be far more overpowering and it's hard to know exactly how much weight to put in Imanaga's 2018 season. Imanaga has posted elite strikeout and walk rates, but also occasionally struggled to limit home runs. While they attack hitters in different ways, Imanaga's profile has some statistical similarities with Andrew Heaney.