Who's gaga for Imanaga? - It's the Cubs! Cubs sign Imanaga per Heyman/Nightengale

[Stratos]

57 minutes ago, Bertz said:

We'll wait for details obviously but sounds like Kenta Maeda's first deal.  Wonder if Shota's health is a little more suspect than we realize.

If there's escalators and multiple opt-outs that sounds like protection for both parties.  I have no problem with this.

Sounds like 2/30 minimum, more years if he's healthy (probably IP escalators at minimum), and can opt-out if he does well and wants a better deal.  If he's better than expected we get a good pitcher for 2 years and he might even make more than the 15m AAV via escalators if he does pitch quite well.

Edited January 10, 2024 by Stratos

[LBiittner]

Personally, I love the imanaga signing. When gambling, go big or go home.

But, Is our rotation currently below par?

Right now many here are projecting imanaga as one of our top starters. 

Baseball America in December rated imanaga as a 4 or 5?

Is Baseball America just a rag?

 

[SOFNR]

I like the signing. Rotation looking pretty solid. Good start to Jed's offseason. Long way to go. 

[Bertz]

25 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

Personally, I love the imanaga signing. When gambling, go big or go home.

But, Is our rotation currently below par?

Right now many here are projecting imanaga as one of our top starters. 

Baseball America in December rated imanaga as a 4 or 5?

Is Baseball America just a rag?

 

Around 5ish years ago Jim Callis left BA for MLB.com and John Manuel left for a team job (Twins I think?) in pretty quick succession and yeah it's been pretty much a rag since.  Really sad too I used to buy the Handbook every year.

[Stratos]

41 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

Personally, I love the imanaga signing. When gambling, go big or go home.

But, Is our rotation currently below par?

Right now many here are projecting imanaga as one of our top starters. 

Baseball America in December rated imanaga as a 4 or 5?

Is Baseball America just a rag?

 

Well our pitching was just MLB average last year and probably isn't much better than that as it stands right now.  But real possibility that Taillon has a better year, Imanaga does better than Stroman, and whoever is our #5 does better than Smyly did.  The pen should hopefully improve too.

[Stratos]

25 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Around 5ish years ago Jim Callis left BA for MLB.com and John Manuel left for a team job (Twins I think?) in pretty quick succession and yeah it's been pretty much a rag since.  Really sad too I used to buy the Handbook every year.

They've done a bad job going from the print era to online era.  Nobody visits the site and anything good is behind a paywall.

[Stratos]

36 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

I like the signing. Rotation looking pretty solid. Good start to Jed's offseason. Long way to go. 

I like it too.  Not to be a buzz kill but the price on him may be a signal that the Cubs are trying to stay under the tax line again, which would be disappointing, but more of an ownership problem.  If they signed Bellinger and Snell plus pen arms they're already over the CBT,.

[WhyCantWeWin]

That contract is pretty weird. Wonder if it's an injury thing or that his market just cratered. With so many teams dropping interest in him the last couple days, I'm thinking it was injury concerns. 

[SOFNR]

38 minutes ago, Stratos said:

I like it too.  Not to be a buzz kill but the price on him may be a signal that the Cubs are trying to stay under the tax line again, which would be disappointing, but more of an ownership problem.  If they signed Bellinger and Snell plus pen arms they're already over the CBT,.

I think it's probably more just him falling into a price Jed was comfortable with. There's gotta be some medical concerns for sure. But I think that contract structure is pretty perfect for a team with some young pitching on the way. I just hope he can stay healthy and replace Stroman for a couple years. The Cubs are in a better position now to spend on a couple hitters/bullpen and all their farm depth is still available for trades.  Still hopeful they aren't gonna bail on improvements for fear of the tax line this time.

[SOFNR]

31 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

That contract is pretty weird. Wonder if it's an injury thing or that his market just cratered. With so many teams dropping interest in him the last couple days, I'm thinking it was injury concerns. 

I think medicals definitely hurt his market. Hopefully it's more of a longterm concern that scared teams off longer deals, allowing to Jed to win with a more incentive laden structure.

Edited January 10, 2024 by SOFNR

[chopsx9]

4 hours ago, ILMindState said:

I thought Angel Guzman had more hype and was supposed to be better than Cruz. 

In 2002 Prior was #1,  Cruz was #2,  Zambrano was #6 and Guzman was #14.  Prior and Cruz were 2 and 6 overall.  Pretty sure I saw a couple "Cruz might be better than Prior" comments back in the day.  Cubs had 7 top 100 prospects in 2002.  Zambrano had the highest career WAR; #2???? (I believe) Good ol' Dontrelle Willis (19.7 to Prior's 16.7) ranked as #21 on the Cubs prospect list. Who'd a thunk that back in 2002?

[Petrey10]

11 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Arrieta and Lackey fell off so quickly..  with this team it just seems like 1 option after another.  Wicks seems like an after thought sometimes but even he reminds me a bit of a young Lester.  Just so many arms everywhere and control on everyone 

So we have the most depth… maybe hard to measure but I’m gonna go out on a limp and say….. no where near best ever 

 

we could easily be worse than last year

[We Got The Whole 9]

6 hours ago, chopsx9 said:

In 2002 Prior was #1,  Cruz was #2,  Zambrano was #6 and Guzman was #14.  Prior and Cruz were 2 and 6 overall.  Pretty sure I saw a couple "Cruz might be better than Prior" comments back in the day.  Cubs had 7 top 100 prospects in 2002.  Zambrano had the highest career WAR; #2???? (I believe) Good ol' Dontrelle Willis (19.7 to Prior's 16.7) ranked as #21 on the Cubs prospect list. Who'd a thunk that back in 2002?

Damn I had no idea Cruz got to 6 overall. I knew he had hype and his stuff was nasty but I didn't realize he had that much hype. 

 

Wasn't it Bonds who faced all our young guys in ST and said Guzman had the best stuff?

[Michael Busch Light]

Just now, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Damn I had no idea Cruz got to 6 overall. I knew he had hype and his stuff was nasty but I didn't realize he had that much hype. 

 

Wasn't it Bonds who faced all our young guys in ST and said Guzman had the best stuff?

He did 

[ILMindState]

I don't remember who the player was but I remember at one point there was a major trade the Cubs almost pulled off but the trade fell apart because the other team wanted Guzman. 

[Illiterate Scholar]

How about a Ted Lilly comp for Imanaga. Minus some walks, innings, and tax evasions.

[Cuzi]

I like the signing. The contract has me questioning his health since he went from talking about $100M to 2/30 at a minimum.

But my bigger concern is what Hottovy had said not too long ago in that he wanted 1 starter and a couple bullpen arms. I really hope that Imanaga is not the lone addition to the starting rotation.

[Rcal10]

29 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

I like the signing. The contract has me questioning his health since he went from talking about $100M to 2/30 at a minimum.

But my bigger concern is what Hottovy had said not too long ago in that he wanted 1 starter and a couple bullpen arms. I really hope that Imanaga is not the lone addition to the starting rotation.

I think it could be, if we take Hottovy at his word.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Cool, the Cubs did something. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

46 minutes ago, Cuzi said:

I like the signing. The contract has me questioning his health since he went from talking about $100M to 2/30 at a minimum.

But my bigger concern is what Hottovy had said not too long ago in that he wanted 1 starter and a couple bullpen arms. I really hope that Imanaga is not the lone addition to the starting rotation.

They have

 

Steele

Imanaga

Hendricks

Taillon

Smyly

Assad

 

with Horton and potentially Brown waiting in the wings. I doubt they add another, but maybe a Suter malleable type. 

[squally1313]

10 hours ago, Stratos said:

Well our pitching was just MLB average last year and probably isn't much better than that as it stands right now.  But real possibility that Taillon has a better year, Imanaga does better than Stroman, and whoever is our #5 does better than Smyly did.  The pen should hopefully improve too.

Our rotation was 8th in fWAR, it was the bullpen where things really fell apart. Obviously that hasn't really been addressed in terms of new players, but the hope is for increased health, a couple signings, Counsell > Ross for whatever reason, etc.

[Cuzi]

12 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

They have

 

Steele

Imanaga

Hendricks

Taillon

Smyly

Assad

 

with Horton and potentially Brown waiting in the wings. I doubt they add another, but maybe a Suter malleable type. 

Horton has pitched 27 innings in AA. I'm not holding my breath on Brown. 3 of the names you listed wont block either of them. And all but Steele are not inspiring. It's a list of #3-5 pitchers.

Edited January 10, 2024 by Cuzi

[Transmogrified Tiger]

11 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

They have

 

Steele

Imanaga

Hendricks

Taillon

Smyly

Assad

 

with Horton and potentially Brown waiting in the wings. I doubt they add another, but maybe a Suter malleable type. 

Forgot Wicks.

[17 Seconds]

1 minute ago, Cuzi said:

Horton has pitched 27 innings in AA. I'm not holding my breath on Brown. 3 of the names you listed wont block either of them. And all but Steele is inspiring. It's a list of #3-5 pitchers.

 

[SOFNR]

1 minute ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Forgot Wicks.

Yep. As of right now Wicks would be my easy frontrunner for #5, with Assad and Smyly in the bullpen.