Chicago Cubs: Shota Imanaga says goodbye, but could he be back?

The Chicago Cubs will be in the unique position this offseason of being able to rebuild almost their entire pitching staff.

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All five of their end-of-season starting pitchers will be heading off into free agency (Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson). Relievers Caleb Thielbar, Hunter Harvey, Aaron Civale, and Trent Thornton could be gone. The team also holds a 2027 option on Colin Rea and Jacob Webb.

It has to be acknowledged, though, that it would be a pretty tough task for Cubs president Jed Hoyer and company to replace everyone. So, that means—for better or for worse—some of these free agents might be re-signed.

One of the potential re-signings being debated among Cubs fandom is left-handed starting pitcher Shota Imanaga.

The Japanese import came to the Cubs in 2024 and nearly walked last offseason before signing a one-year $22 million qualifying offer deal for 2026.

Imanaga has been up and down as a Cub and 2026 was a perfect representation of his time in Chicago. At times, he looked like a high-end cerebral starter and at other times he seemed to miss his mark a lot and get touched up for way too many home runs.

Shota’s emotional ‘thank you’ to Cubs fans

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Whatever the case and whatever the free agent market decides, Imanaga wanted one final message of thanks issued to Cubs fans ahead of an uncertain offseason.

“For that (first) press conference, I remember writing down on a piece of paper what I was gonna say in English. I still have it. I still walk around with it … it’s meant a lot,” Imanaga told reporters via interpreter. “This year when I’ve had bad outings, where it would make sense for the fans to start booing, they didn’t … Even the next day when I’m going out into the bullpen, in the bleachers, everyone stood up and cheered for me. I have so much appreciation for the fans of Chicago and, first and foremost, I need to show my thanks and appreciation for everybody.”

The prevailing thought is that the Cubs will let Imanaga walk. There’s just too much unpredictability with him, especially for the money he’s likely to expect.

Could Imanaga be back?

Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation perfectly summed up the value-for-price situation the Cubs are facing:

“Shota Imanaga, 33, has been much more good than bad for the Cubs over his three seasons in Chicago. He has been durable, enjoyable, and boasts a 3.45 ERA over 492.1 innings (about 15% better than league average by ERA-). For the three years the Cubs had him, they paid under $45 million total. He was easily worth it.

The question going forward, though, is whether there’s mutual interest in continuing the partnership at a price tag that could be difficult to estimate.”

Keeping him in 2026 was a debatable move and, looking back, it probably cost them when it came to their budget for trying to sign guys like Dylan Cease. Locking him in for 2027 and beyond—at a price beyond what an average fourth or fifth MLB starter would command—just doesn’t make sense.

That’s not necessarily a hard “no,” though. The Cubs could do a lot worse than Imanaga—if the price were team-friendly enough. At this point, with so many holes to fill, having one more familiar face back in the rotation wouldn’t necessarily be a negative.

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