Shota Imanaga becomes free agent after Chicago Cubs divorce

Two years later, Shota Imanaga is back on the market. 

The Japanese left-hander entered free agency on Tuesday morning in a stunning divorce with the Chicago Cubs, after both parties declined their ends of his contract option, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. 

“The [Cubs] rejected their option to extend his contract out to a fifth year,” Rogers posted to X. “That triggered [Imanaga’s] ability to exercise a $15 million player option for 2026. He declined that as well.”

Imanaga, 32, hits the open market just two years after the Cubs signed him from the Yokohama DeNa BayStars on a four-year, $53 million deal ahead of the 2024 season.

He came to the North Side with an impressive résumé, a Nippon Professional Baseball standout who dazzled during Japan’s run to the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship.

His dominance instantly translated to the majors. 

Imanaga went 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 174 strikeouts across 29 starts in an exceptional rookie campaign, earning an All-Star nod and finishing fifth in Cy Young voting.

But a hamstring injury hampered the Japanese phenom throughout May and June of the 2025 season.

He still posted a solid 3.73 ERA across 25 starts, but that mark ballooned to a whopping 5.17 in his last 12 outings — a brutal stretch which saw him allow 20 home runs across 69 ⅔ innings.

Imanaga’s trouble with the long ball followed him into the postseason, where he surrendered three homers in 6 ⅔ innings as the Cubs fell to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.

Still just 32, the southpaw enters the open market and will likely draw serious interest from clubs with World Series aspirations for 2026.