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Jason Ross
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Everything posted by Jason Ross
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Here is what happened: 1. The Cubs declined their option on a 3 year, $57m extension 2. Shota Imanaga declined his $15.25m option for 2026, making him a free agent 3. The Cubs offered him a QO, which is a one year, $22m deal. If the Cubs weren't okay with signing Imanaga to a $22m, one year deal, they wouldn't have offered it. That is "not a raise". The Cubs didn't offer Shota Imanaga more money; they followed the contract, and made a choice. At 1/$22m, Imanaga was fine value to this team. Beyond that, you are moving the goalposts. Your original assertion is that Jed is a fool because obviously he was going to accept it and you think he did it just to get a late round comp pick. You and I both know the man is entirely value focused. Maybe you wouldn't have extended him a 1/$22m deal - whatever. Who cares at this point. But I'm not going to sit here and have people twist everything to fit a narrative. When people want Hoyer to be intensely value-focused and unbudging they do that. When they want to bitch and moan about when he does something, they say he's a fool and an idiot who didn't think through the situation. Pick a lane. Either Hoyer thought through the entire thing because he's intensely value focused, or he's a gunslinging fool. It can't be both.
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Shota Imanaga is making $8m more next year, that is a "raise" but the Cubs didn't "give him a raise" - so let's talk in good faith here. The Cubs chose to spend $8m more in 2026 over giving him a 3 year, $57m extension. This allows them to try to fix him to Imanaga back to 2024 levels without committing to him for the next three-years if they can't.
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He didn't "give him an $8m raise". He declined their potion of his contract which was a 3 year extension and an increase in AAV, Shota then declined his portion of the contract. The Cubs didn't want to guarantee him added money and years. Shota wanted to bet on himself. And the Cubs felt a 1/$22m contract for Imanaga was a worthwhile gamble in the likely event he accepted the QO. Again, this is not rocket science. We're talking out of both sides of our mouth with Jed Hoyer around here so often. People both want to claim he's too risk-adverse to make any sort of signing, but then also stupid enough to throw a QO at Shota Imanaga without thinking through the situation. That doesn't make sense. Either he is risk-adverse and thought through it all, or he's not.
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Or, maybe they believe they can get Imanaga back to the level he was and that last years velocity decline was tied to the leg injury. It's really not rocket science. There were even reports the Cubs were trying to sign him to a two-year thing. This narrative that Jed just haphazardly threw a QO on him just doesn't make sense.
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Well, that's not what I said at all. I said that we'd likely be lightly connected to that player and then the finalized form of that would just, happen. For example, we were connected to Imai but there was no talk about how close things were. Both Cerami and Trueblood have reported that it was very close (note; not me giving them "they tried" points). So I think we should take away two things: 1. The Cubs "being connected" or these reports doesn't just mean the Cubs called once. It could, but it could mean more 2. If the Cubs sign someone, it'll probably be someone we've kind of heard about. I know things are pretty cynical right now, and the Cubs have probably given people a good reason to feel that way, but that the Cubs seem to be scouring the free agent market at the top of things is probably not the worst thing. They're getting connected still to Bichette, Bregman, Bellinger, after being connected to Imai, Cease, and Alonso. I don't know if they'll get any of them, but it's much better than not hearing they're sniffing in that direction, as well.
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I would expect that anything that the Cubs do will not have those rumors. We never heard we were in contract negotiations with Imai but both Matt and Cerami have said today the Cubs thought they had him and then didn't. It's more likely that we will hear light connections and then, boom, it will just drop.
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From Imai's perspective, I think it's a home run. Imai is guaranteed $50+million with incentives tied directly to health. If he's bad, or hurt, he's got $50m in the bag and can hit FA at age-30/31, plenty of time to carve out a second contract and possibility to rebound. Or head back to Japan where he knows he's successful. If he's good, he'll rack up the incentives, pick up $21m and then with proof of concept and at age 28/29 will still be the one of the youngest arms on the market and should mop up a $150+m deal. I get why he took it.
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Sure. Like I said, I didn't tell you what will or won't happen. But if there's more money there than we think there is, that should give us a rosier picture of what could happen than some are willing to have right now. He made it clear the Cubs aren't in on Valdez and won't be however. But if Imai + Bregman money was there, Bichette + Gallen money would probably be available. And I think that'd be a fun way to wrap up the offseason as a possibility. Probably won't happen, but I think before that article, none of us expected there to be that much wiggle room above the LT, too.
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I mean, here's the thing and it can only be one of these: 1. Matt's report is wrong. 2. The Cubs believe they could sign Imai and Bregman for under $35m together, or by trading Hoerner. 3. The Cubs have more funds than we think available because those two will cost more than the LT. I'm not telling you what will, or won't happen. But the reality is, if Matt isn't wrong, then #3 is probably the more realistic option.
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It's been frustratingly slow, but this is what happens when Boras controls the market. I still have hope that the Cubs are shooting higher than some people think they are with reports like Matt's that the Cubs were trying to get Imai+Bregman. That would suggest more money than we gave them credit for. So maybe good things still to come.
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I'm not. If they didn't think he was decent value on a one year contract, they wouldn't have offered it. The same guy who did a big article on Imai showed how good Shota can still be; it comes down to his velocity. If the Cubs feel his velo was down due to his injury, and they can get it back, there's a good pitcher there, especially on one year. It also gives them the flexibility if it isn't to move on from him next year. The QO makes sense.
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I don't really believe Shota and the QO has changed much. I think we all know the Cubs are careful with contracts and money and valuation. It doesn't make any sense that everyone thought immediately "hey I bet he takes it" and the Cubs were got-caught. As well, the Cubs have over $30m under the LT still; the extra few million over his former salary isn't doing a lot of work here.
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Heard they think he can play LF. So maybe not.
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Toronto Blue Jays signed him
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Seems like there's some skepticism out of Japan: -Translation Feels like Okamoto is going to be another one of these "no one knows" thing.
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They weren't really "linked" to them. Here's the only mention of those names from the Mark Feinsand article: Link That's not really a report. That's just mentioning those guys are available. Maybe they'll sign Chris Bassitt or Lucas Giolito, but Mark's article isn't suggesting that's what the Cubs are doing so much as "these guys are also available free agents".
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I agree the Cubs should pick someone and be irrational about him. Alex Bregman is not the player I would pick as that players so this is a moot point to me. I can see a reason why the Cubs would be interested in Bregman, but upper $20's and 5-6 years is my max with how the Cubs operate financially. He is not the player I'd be battling for.
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Neither did I. I wasn't saying the Cubs will sign one or not. I wasn't assuming the Cubs sign a player of $20m, I was assuming that *if* the Cubs were to do that, he would be the best player the Cubs add this cycle.
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When did I give any optimism? Imai got $18-21m AAV. I was discussing his contract directly and that had the Cubs signed him at that deal, you'd assume he would be the Cubs best player added and that they are not in a position to once again lose their best addition the following off-season.
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Opt outs in general are not always bad. But the Cubs are probably in a situation where adding another possible roster opening to 2027 is just not feasible. Hoerner, Suzuki, Happ, Imanaga, Boyd, Taillon, Kelly, Rea, much of their BP....it's a major chunk of the roster. They could resign one or two of them, and they might have internal replacements for one or two as well, but extensions will likely raise those salaries; how much will realistically be left over to replace these guys? And with whom? Many of these players look to be the top player in the market - so how do you get better? You have to assume if the Cubs sign a player for $20m AAV that's the best player they're getting this cycle; losing that player on top of what they already are, has to almost be a no-go right now. In terms of Imai's contract, I think this is especially bad for Houston. They pay the posting fee on the entire contract and what's the upside? If Imai is hurt or bad, he's stuck and if he's good he leaves. One year deals are rarely bad but Houston takes all the risk on this one. Owners shouldn't care about the money but we know they do.
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I believe Marino Pepin has a pretty poor track record with these things. That said, yeah, at that price, I can't see the Cubs in on him.
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Jon Heyman: Cubs one of teams interested in Bo Bichette.
Jason Ross replied to Jason Ross's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Any buffoon can, but this is Jon Heyman, not "any" buffoon. Heyman has a reputation and in journalism, that's what matters. There is a reason Nightengale gets a nickname like Boob, but no one makes fun of Jeff Passan (it wouldn't be hard to drop the P there like adding an O to Bob). There was a very good podcast recently where Sharma and Mooney discussed how they go about reporting something when they discussed what the level is for it to pass being post worthy. We can debate how likely the Cubs are to meet what it will take to sign Bichette, and we can debate who has something to gain with this information getting out, but there's probably far more to this than "any buffoon posting something". This is likely a legitimate check in. This is not like what you or I "think"; let's not make silly comparisons like that.
