Josh covered this topic in After Dark last week but I thought I’d weigh in on Shōta Imanaga’s deal myself, as we don’t have much Cubs news these days and are awaiting the World Series to begin three days from now, Friday evening in Toronto.

The Cubs left-hander from Japan signed a complicated deal with the Cubs before the 2024 season. He had a spectacularly good year in his first season in Chicago. The second… not so much. Imanaga suffered a hamstring injury in May, threw reasonably well for a while after that but from late July on, was pretty bad. Beginning July 25, when he got hammered by the White Sox for seven runs and three home runs in five innings, through the end of the season, Imanaga posted a 5.17 ERA in 12 starts, allowing 20 (!) home runs in 69.1 innings.

Yeah, that’s pretty

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