A new report claims the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs are among the teams still in the hunt for Japanese ace Shota Imanaga, while the San Francisco Giants are surprisingly out of the chase.
The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs had very different results in 2023. The Sox finished in last place with a 78-84 record for the second straight season, while the Cubbies were in the playoff chase into the final month of the season.
However, they are both teams that came up short of the playoffs last season, need major upgrades to the roster, and have starting pitching as a top priority this winter.
Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox among the finalists for Shota Imanaga
Unfortunately for Boston and Chicago fans, both teams have been fairly quiet so far this offseason. But that could soon change. On Tuesday, New York Post MLB insider Jon Heyman reported that the “Cubs and Red Sox seen as very much in play on lefthander Shota Imanaga.”
What makes the news interesting was a Monday report that the San Francisco Giants were very close to finalizing a deal with the 30-year-old pitcher. However, in a follow-up report, Heyman claimed that the Giants were looking elsewhere and were no longer among the five finalists for the Yokohama Bay Stars talent.
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Imanaga is seen as one of the best pitchers left in free agency after National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Texas Rangers pitcher Jordan Montgomery. For many of the teams that failed to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Imanaga has been viewed as a backup plan and it has reportedly increased the asking price.
Shota Imanaga is now expected to get a six-figure deal from the MLB team that lands him in free agency. He has pitched in the Nippon Professional Baseball league since 2016 and has a 74-55 career record, with a 2.96 ERA and 1.076 WHIP. He is expected to decide on his team in MLB in the next week.
