Shota

Imanaga

Imanaga allowed six hits, and he struck out seven while generating a very solid 16 swings and misses and walked two. He pitched better than this line — particularly after the first inning — but a three-run homer allowed to Joey Wiemer spoiled the punch. Imanaga is deserving of being in fantasy lineups in the majority of leagues agaisnt the Guardians on Saturday.

Imanaga generated a staggering 17 swinging strikes, with nearly half of them (eight) coming on his sweeper alone. The 32-year-old’s fastball velocity was up nearly two miles per-hour in this outing as he continues to flash increased velocity this spring, leading to a 4.50 ERA and 18/3 K/BB ratio across 18 innings of work. He’s looked extremely impressive this spring, causing his fantasy stock to increase as a result, vaulting him into the top 40-50 range among starting pitchers entering the year. He’s in line to take the ball on Saturday against the Nationals to kick off the regular season.

Jeimer Candelario’s solo homer in the fifth was the only hit given up by Imanaga tonight. With his velocity up across the board this spring, Imanaga is looking like a nice bounce-back candidate and an underrated draft-day option.

The results weren’t great, but it was nice to see Imanaga average 92.1 mph with his fastball today. He was down at 90.8 mph last year after coming in at 91.7 mph in his first season in the U.S. Imanaga struck out three today and got seven whiffs on his 13 splitters thrown.

Imanaga gave up all three runs on solo homers. The 32-year-old didn’t issue a walk while picking up a strikeout. Imanaga will not be participating in the WBC in 2026, so he’ll remain a part of the Cubs’ spring training rotation before pitching at or near the top of the rotation when the real games start.

It qualified as a major surprise when Imanaga accepted a qualifying offer from the Cubs at the outset of the offseason since he figured to have plenty of suitors on the open market. The 32-year-old southpaw has settled in as a consistent top-50 range starting pitcher for fantasy purposes, even if his velocity and strikeout rate are trending in the wrong direction. It’s notable that his fastball velocity was up to 93 mph in this early-spring outing, which is an encouraging sign.

The Cubs could have kept Imanaga for $57 million over three years, but they decided against that. It was kind of surprising they offered him the QO afterwards, but having him back for one year doesn’t seem like a bad thing. It just complicates the idea of making a run at Dylan Cease, Michael King or another top starter. As is, the Cubs’ rotation consists of Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Cade Horton and Imanaga, with Colin Rea likely filling in until Justin Steele returns from elbow surgery.

Passan adds that Kyle Schwarber, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, Edwin Díaz, Zac Gallen, Shota Imanaga, Michael King, Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres and Brandon Woodruff are the other dozen impending free agent to receive the tag prior to Thursday evening’s deadline. They have until Tuesday, November 18 to decide whether to accept the one-year deal or decline and become free agents. Only 14 of 144 players to receive a qualifying offer since 2012 have actually accepted it. It’s worth noting that players who were on multiple teams — Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez — along with players who have previously received a qualifying offer — Pete Alonso, Cody Bellinger and Alex Bregman — were ineligible to receive one this offseason.

The Cubs had three years and $57 million left on Imagana’s deal and could have extended his contract out to a fifth season, but declined to do so. Imanaga then declined his $15 million player option and decided to become a free agent. It’s a bit of a surprising move considering Imanaga has a 3.28 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 291/54 K/BB ratio in 318 MLB innings since coming over from Japan. He struggled with injuries and took a step back in 2025, and there will remain some home run concerns given his fly-ball tendencies, but he immediately becomes one of the top starting pitchers on the market.

If Matthew Boyd had made it out of the first on Saturday, maybe the Cubs would have pulled Imanaga after two tonight. Instead, they stuck with him and watched him give up his second homer of the game in the third. Dating back to Aug. 28, he’s given up 16 homers over 41 1/3 innings in eight starts.