Shota Imanaga to sign with Cubs: Japanese pitcher lands in Chicago on four-year, $53 million with options

Imanaga is expected to be a mid-rotation starter in MLB

The Chicago Cubs have reached an agreement with Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga, CBS Sports HQ's Jim Bowden has confirmed. According to ESPN's Jesse Rogers, the contract will guarantee Imanaga $53 million over four years. After the first two years, the Cubs can extend the pact to $80 million over five years. If they decline to do that after the second or third year of the deal, then Imanaga can opt out and become a free agent. 

Imanaga is coming to MLB after eight years in Nippon Professional Baseball league, the world's second-best circuit. Across those eight seasons, he pitched to a 2.96 ERA with a 3.93 K/BB ratio and more than a strikeout per inning. He did, however, allow a relatively high number of home runs by league standards, which raises concerns about how well he'll be able to suppress power in MLB.

Coming into the offseason, CBS Sports ranked Imanaga as the No. 42 available free agent. More recently, CBS Sports highlighted what makes Imanaga such an interesting potential mid-rotation starter. Here's part of that writeup: 

Imanaga's heater has nevertheless remained his primary offering because of the pitch's innate "rising" action. He'll be at home in that regard in MLB, with teams flocking in recent years to pitchers who can elevate their fastballs.
When Imanaga wants to change the pace, he usually turns to a low-80s slider that generated almost 40% whiffs last season. For context's sake, that percentage would have ranked him in the top 10 among left-handed starters who threw at least 100 sliders during the 2023 campaign -- and ahead of the likes of Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw, among other accomplished veterans  

As part of the posting system that's in place for Japanese professionals coming to MLB, the Cubs will owe Imanaga's former club, the Yokohama BayStars, a substantial posting fee. 

Imanaga in 2024 will be entering his age-30 season. He'll be joining an upstart Cubs team that figures to slot him into a rotation that also includes breakout lefty Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, and Jameson Taillon. Our Mike Axisa wrote what the Cubs should (or must) do next after this signing.