Shota Imanaga’s qualifying offer is for one year and $22.025 million. Michael Reaves / Getty Images
The Chicago Cubs made Shota Imanaga a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer ahead of Thursday’s deadline, maneuvering to receive draft-pick compensation if the Japanese pitcher signs a free-agent contract with another major-league club.
As expected, the Cubs also extended the same qualifying offer to All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker, who’s widely viewed as the No. 1 free agent in this class. While the decision to reject the qualifying offer should be straightforward for Tucker, Imanaga’s situation appears to be more complicated.
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Shota Imanaga’s qualifying offer is for one year and $22.025 million. Michael Reaves / Getty Images
The Chicago Cubs made Shota Imanaga a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer ahead of Thursday’s deadline, maneuvering to receive draft-pick compensation if the Japanese pitcher signs a free-agent contract with another major-league club.
As expected, the Cubs also extended the same qualifying offer to All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker, who’s widely viewed as the No. 1 free agent in this class. While the decision to reject the qualifying offer should be straightforward for Tucker, Imanaga’s situation appears to be more complicated.
Next week in Las Vegas, Imanaga’s representatives will use Major League Baseball’s general managers meetings to gauge the market for starting pitchers and see which teams would be willing to commit to a 32-year-old lefty who was an All-Star and a Cy Young Award contender in 2024.
Imanaga’s second season in Chicago was solid, but not spectacular. Recency bias likely factored into the club’s decision to not exercise a three-year option that would have locked him in for the 2026, 2027 and 2028 seasons at a total cost of $57.75 million.
With their season on the line, the Cubs did not use Imanaga in a playoff loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, which clearly showed a lack of trust in him at that moment.
Despite a late-season slump, Imanaga can still point to a strong overall body of work (24-11, 3.28 ERA in 54 starts) in the majors. He demonstrated his confidence by declining a $15.25 million player option for next season, which would have enabled him to hold another player option for 2027.
Instead of guaranteeing himself at least $30.5 million over the next two seasons, Imanaga will look to exceed those terms in his next contract.
Or, if the initial interest feels lukewarm and the uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement clouds his market, Imanaga could return to Wrigley Field on a $22.025 million salary, hoping to rebuild his value with another All-Star year.
The deadline for a player to accept a qualifying offer is Nov. 18.
As a team that MLB did not classify as a luxury-tax payor or a revenue-sharing recipient this year, the Cubs would be in line for 2026 compensation picks after Competitive Balance Round B if Imanaga and Tucker depart as free agents this winter.
If the Cubs sign a free agent who rejected a qualifying offer from another team, they would lose their second-highest selection in the 2026 draft as well as $500,000 from their international bonus pool for the upcoming signing period.
Nov 6, 2025
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Patrick Mooney is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. He spent eight seasons covering the Cubs across multiple platforms for NBC Sports Chicago/Comcast SportsNet, beginning in 2010. He has been a frequent contributor to MLB Network, Baseball America, MLB.com and the Chicago Sun-Times News Group. Follow Patrick on Twitter @PJ_Mooney