The 2025-26 MLB offseason is only just beginning, but there's already a long list of potential candidates to fill the Boston Red Sox's roster holes. A surprise option to bolster their rotation became available on November 4.
Shota Imanaga has become a free agent, first reported by Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The Chicago Cubs declined a conditional club option that would've added a fifth year to the lefty's four-year, $53 million deal. The move gave Imanaga a $15 million player option for 2026, which he declined.
Imanaga's two seasons with the Cubs were his first in MLB. The Red Sox were among the contenders for his services when he was posted by his former Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Yokohama Baystars. Boston, the Giants, Angels and Cubs were among the finalists for Imanaga in 2024, but the Sox didn't sign him because it offered him a short-term deal.
Imanaga, then-30, posted an excellent first season in the major leagues, for which he received an All-Star nod, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award votes. He posted a 2.91 ERA with a 1.021 WHIP, 174 strikeouts and 28 walks over 173.1 innings.
Red Sox could pursue surprise free agent pitcher Shota Imanaga after he and Cubs decline option
The NPB veteran didn't fare as well in the 2025 season, but still posted solid numbers. He clocked a 3.73 ERA, 0.988 WHIP, 117 strikeouts and 26 walks over 144.2 frames. Imanaga maintained his excellent walk rate, which ranked in the 97th percentile in 2024 and the 96th in 2025, but his whiff and strikeout percentages decreased rather substantially, by 28 and 33 percentage points, respectively.
Imanaga's output may have been affected by a quad strain that kept him on the injured list for nearly two months. He was particularly troubled by the home run ball late in the season, and he allowed 10 bombs in 27.2 innings over five starts in September. Those were about a third of the home runs he allowed all year, so if the Red Sox can keep him from getting exhausted at the end of the season, he could be a better fit for Fenway Park.
The Cubs could still make Imanaga a qualifying offer, which would hurt his value on the free agent market and deter the Red Sox from signing him. If a club signs any player with a qualifying offer attached to them, the team forfeits an MLB Draft pick for the following season.
Qualifying offer attached or not, Imanaga joins the top tier of pitchers available on the market this winter. The Red Sox's previous pursuit of the lefty could give them a leg-up in a potential free agent chase, but their pursuit will likely be determined by his price when the market officially opens.