The Chicago Cubs made a pretty shocking move, rejecting their option to extend Shota Imanaga's contract out to a fifth year, therefore allowing the southpaw to opt out of the deal altogether and enter free agency, per ESPN's Jesse Rogers. All of a sudden, the Cubs' rotation, which already had a glaring need at the top, is in even worse shape.
Breaking Cubs news: Lefty starter Shota Imanaga is a free agent, sources tell ESPN. The team rejected their option to extend his contract out to a fifth year. That triggered his ability to exercise a $15 million player option for 2026. He declined that as well.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) November 4, 2025
On one hand, this move wasn't so shocking. Imanaga struggled mightily down the stretch to the point where he was practically unusable for a Cubs team trying to do damage in the postseason. Adding an extra year to his deal when he's already 32 years old was a risk. On the other hand, though, Imanaga finished fifth in the NL Cy Young balloting in 2024, and the Cubs essentially rejected a three-year, $57 million deal for Imanaga - a very team-friendly deal for a starting pitcher.
The bottom line here, though, is that Craig Counsell is being put in a tough spot right now with the starting pitchers he has at his disposal.
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Cubs rotation without Shota Imanaga leaves a lot to be desired
Here's a look at the Cubs' current rotation without Imanaga:
Cubs Rotation Order | Pitcher |
|---|---|
SP1 | Matthew Boyd |
SP2 | Cade Horton |
SP3 | Jameson Taillon |
SP4 | Javier Assad |
SP5 | Ben Brown |
Yes, the Cubs are expected to get Justin Steele back sometime early in the 2026 season, but who knows what he'll look like coming off Tommy John Surgery? Matthew Boyd had a great year for the Cubs in 2025, but he has clear durability concerns and faded in the second half (4.63 ERA). Cade Horton looks like a budding ace, but he's also just 23 appearances into his MLB career. Jameson Taillon is a decent back-end starter, but he, too, has durability concerns. Guys like Javier Assad and Ben Brown probably shouldn't have guaranteed rotation spots, yet right now, they do.
The Cubs lack a frontline arm and they lack depth. I'm not going to say Imanaga should be treated like a frontline starter, but it feels like he's clearly the No. 4 starter in this rotation when Steele is healthy. They're really going to let that guy test free agency instead of giving him a rather cheap deal?
Cubs rejecting Shota Imanaga option is bad omen for what's to come
I get the red flags with Imanaga. He allowed a whopping 31 home runs in just 144.2 innings of work and had a 5.17 ERA in his last 12 regular-season starts, allowing 20 home runs in 69.2 innings in that span. The Cubs, understandably, are concerned that Imanaga won't get any better at 32 years of age.
The problem, though, is that before his second-half struggles, Imanaga had done nothing but pitch like an ace in the majors. He finished in the top five in the NL Cy Young balloting in 2024, and had a 2.40 ERA in his first 13 starts of 2025. Giving up on him after 12 lousy starts when the alternative was to get him at less than $20 million annually for three years feels like the Cubs are simply penny pinching.
I mean, just look at some of the contracts signed by pitchers just last offseason.
- Luis Severino: Three years, $67 million
- Yusei Kikuchi: Three years, $63 million
- Frankie Montas: Two years, $34 million
- Alex Cobb: One year, $15 million
The value of starting pitchers has never been higher. It'd be surprising if Imanaga didn't get a good amount more than the three years for $57 million that the Cubs turned down. The Cubs delining Imanaga's option only to watch him get more wouldn't be great.
Cubs can only justify Shota Imanaga decision by seriously improving rotation
This decision was a head-scratcher, but if the Cubs take rotation additions seriously, it'll make more sense. Say the Cubs sign a guy like Dylan Cease - he'd be a real upgrade over Imanaga. If they were to trade for a guy like Tarik Skubal or Freddy Peralta, that, too, would make the team so much better.
Should anyone really expect this to happen, though? The Cubs have historically shown a reluctance to spend big on pitching, and rejecting Imanaga's option suggests they're going to plan on penny-pinching this winter. On the trade front, does anyone really expect the Cubs to part with what it'd take to land Skubal or Peralta, especially after they traded for one year of Kyle Tucker?
The Cubs gave Craig Counsell the richest contract an MLB manager has ever received to lead the way for them, but at the end of the day, there's only so much he can do. If he's handed this rotation with only cheap additions, why should anyone expect that the Cubs will win the NL Central or go on a deep postseason run in 2026?
The Cubs can prove skeptics wrong by having a big winter, but nothing they've done suggests they're eager to do that, and rejecting Imanaga's option only adds to the negativity flustering around the North Side right now.