BREAKING: Shota Imanaga Accepts Qualifying Offer, Will Stay with Cubs for $22.025 Million

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Shota Imanaga might have miscalculated a bit. He didn't think the Cubs would extend him the qualifying offer, so he turned down $15 million for 2026 with the right to earn either $15 million more in 2027 or $42 million more from 2027-28. Then again, the Cubs might have miscalculated, themselves. When they gave the offer to Imanaga, it was (in part) because they believed he would reject it, said one source familiar with their thinking. On Tuesday, each side took their medicine, as Imanaga accepted the offer.

That entitles the left-handed starter to $22.025 million for 2026, a nice immediate raise, and it means the Cubs can't trade him without his permission until May 15. In essence, it ensures that the relationship between the two will last one more season, after which the Cubs will not be allowed to make the same offer even if they want to do so. Chicago chose this possibility over a team option that would have amounted to the same annual salary for three years, so they did gain some medium-term flexibility, but they now have a minor logjam forming in their starting rotation.

Imanaga, 32, pitched 144 2/3 innings this year with a 3.73 ERA. His strikeout rate plunged, though, and his velocity was down after he returned from a long stint on the injured list due to a hamstring strain. He slots in, tentatively, as the team's second or third starter for 2026, but they now face the challenge of upgrading that department of their roster despite already being heavily invested in it. 

In addition to Imanaga's $22 million, the team owes Matthew Boyd $14.5 million; Jameson Taillon $18 million; and Colin Rea $5.5 million, not counting buyouts on the 2027 options for Boyd and Rea. Justin Steele is likely to make over $7 million via arbitration, too. That's a heavy investment in the rotation, for a team also locked into four eight-figure salaries on the positional side and needing to fill several more holes. This won't take them entirely out of the market for upgrades in the rotation, but they might feel compelled to trade either Boyd or Taillon to make room for that change, both financially and logistically.

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