Cubs’ Rotation Search Narrowed After Imanaga Accepts Qualifying Offer

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Cubs were not certain if Shota Imanaga was going to agree to the one-year offer on the table last month or take his chances in free agency. As Chicago’s front office began its search for arms on multiple fronts, it was a real possibility that the lefty would opt for the latter.

Ultimately,Imanaga accepted the $22.025 million qualifying offer on Nov.18,filling a vacancy in the rotation temporarily created by a series of decisions to decline options in his original contract. Sitting in his suite at the Signia by Hilton Orlando on Monday evening, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer dismissed the idea that his front office was caught off-guard by imanaga’s decision to take the deal.

“We weren’t blindsided at all,” Hoyer said.

The result is that the Cubs’ search for rotation reinforcements has now been reduced to finding one additional impact arm, while looking at depth options behind the main cast. Simultaneously occurring, the North Siders are also keeping thier eye on the relief market and are not ruling out pursuing late-inning options via multi-year deals.

Adding to the rotation has been a project for the Cubs dating back to the Trade Deadline last season, when the team was linked to high-profile names like Joe Ryan, MacKenzie Gore, Sandy Alcantara and edwin Cabrera. This winter, those names are still being discussed.