{"id":271356,"date":"2025-11-04T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T17:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/271356\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T17:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T17:59:11","slug":"imanaga-becomes-eligible-for-free-agency-after-cubs-pitcher-turn-down-options-ap-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/271356\/","title":{"rendered":"Imanaga becomes eligible for free agency after Cubs, pitcher turn down options, AP source says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that left-hander Shoto Imanaga became eligible for free agency when the Chicago Cubs declined an…<\/p>\n

CHICAGO(AP) \u2014 Left-hander Shota Imanaga became eligible for free agency when the Chicago Cubs declined an option to keep his contract by guaranteeing $57 million for the 2026-28 seasons and he turned down a $15.25 million option for 2026, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the team had not announced the decisions.<\/p>\n

Imanaga agreed in January 2024 to a contract guaranteeing $53 million<\/a>. He wound up earning $23.25 million over two seasons, including a $250,000 escalator for 2025 by finishing fourth in 2024 NL Cy Young Award voting.<\/p>\n

Chicago had to decide this week whether to exercise its option for $20.25 million each in 2026 and ’27 and $17.25 million in 2028, figures that increase by $250,000 each because of the escalator.<\/p>\n

Once the team declined, he had the decision on a 2026 option. If he had exercised that option, it would have triggered club options for $24.25 million in 2027 and $15.25 million in 2028. <\/p>\n

The Cubs could still extend Imanaga a qualifying offer<\/a> of $22,025,000 for 2026. If he declines and signs with another team before the amateur draft, the Cubs would receive a draft pick as compensation.<\/p>\n

Imanaga, 32, was an All-Star in 2024, when he went 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA, finishing fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.<\/p>\n

He was 9-8 with a 3.73 ERA in 25 starts this year, when he was sidelined between May 24 and June 26 by a strained left hamstring.<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that left-hander Shoto Imanaga became eligible for free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-271356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}