There it is. The complicated web of options decisions – the first layer of it, anyway – has played out as many were expecting, and Chicago Cubs lefty Shōta Imanaga is a free agent for now.
Breaking Cubs news: Lefty starter Shota Imanaga is a free agent, sources tell ESPN. The team rejected their option to extend his contract out to a fifth year. That triggered his ability to exercise a $15 million player option for 2026. He declined that as well.
Essentially, what the Cubs turned down here is a three-year, $57 million deal for Imanaga, 32, going forward. Given his uneven performance this season and the fall-off at the end, it’s not a total shock that the Cubs were unwilling to go to that level, and I’m not sure he’d get that much in free agency. But it’s still a bit jarring to realize … yeah, Shōta is now a free agent. It really happened.
The next step in the process is the Qualifying Offer ($22 million for 2026), which the Cubs very well may extend to Imanaga by Thursday. If he accepts, hey, that’s not at all a bad one-year deal for a pitcher of Imanaga’s caliber. If he declines, the Cubs can still negotiate with him throughout the offseason on a deal that makes more sense for both sides – or, if he signs elsewhere, they could get an extra draft pick after the second round next year.
If the Cubs don’t even make the Qualifying Offer, then I suppose we know what they’re thinking about how he projects in 2026.
We’ll see how that plays out this week. My tentative guess is the Cubs will make the offer, and I would call it 50/50 that Imanaga accepts. He gets a significant bump over what would’ve been his 2026 salary on the original deal, and he preserves flexibility after 2026.
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