The Chicago Cubs walked into the All-Star break with their heads held high and a degree of positivity about them, despite holding just a one game lead over the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central Division.
Coming off two stellar pitching performances against the heavy artillery New York Yankees, the battered and embattled starting rotation showed their very best faces in back-to-back games– and in three of their last four games.
Imanaga, also “masterful”
On Sunday, Shota Imanaga delivered 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits, while striking out 6 in a 4-1 victory. The Japanese star’s sole blemish in an otherwise near-perfect outing was a Giancarlo Stanton solo home run in the second inning. The 31-year-old headed into the break with a 2.65 ERA in 12 starts, despite missing about 5 weeks with a hamstring strain.
“Matt Boyd was masterful yesterday, Shota was masterful today,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters after the game. “It was just wonderful pitching. High, high level of execution.”
“It was excellent today,” he added, referring to Imanaga’s splitter. “Excellent. They had to really respect the splitter today, and you could just feel that in the at-bats.”
Imanaga’s and Boyd’s masterful performances were preceded (we’ll disregard Friday’s bullpen game blowout loss to the Yankees) by a similarly dominant showing by Colin Rea on Thursday, where the veteran allowed just one earned run in 7 innings against the Minnesota Twins.
“The guy knows what he’s doing,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said of Imanaga, after Sunday’s game. “He’s just got such unique stuff, unbelievable feel for his pitches. He’s somebody who, when he goes out there, we feel like we have a good chance to win.”
The realities of the Chicago Cubs rotation
The Imanaga, Boyd, and Rea showings stand in the face of the narrative that Cubs’ starting pitching is in complete disarray and that the team, heading towards the July 31 trade deadline, has an almost impossible task of finding starters for a playoff run. With the injured Jameson Taillon slated to return sometime around mid-August and rookie Cade Horton doing well enough, the rotation may not be too far off from where they need to be– if everything continues to play out true to current form.
The best part is that, with the possible exception of the free agency-eligible Rea, everyone will be back next year, including the injured Justin Steele, who is projected to return from 2025-ending elbow surgery at some point in mid-2026.
Count this as some masterful planning from Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who has been able to walk the line between acquiring impact talent and appeasing the frugal ways of Cubs ownership.
The Cubs-friendly Imanaga deal
The deal constructed around the signing of Imanaga prior to the 2024 season was especially ingenious. It was one which paved the way for the Cubs to add a top-of-rotation presence at a team-friendly price, with safety net opt-outs, just in case. On the surface, it was just a 4-year, $53 million deal, but the details of the arrangement allow for it to eventually become a 5-year, $70 million deal, with club options after both this season and the next. At current market rate, a high-end, All-Star-level starting pitcher at an average salary of $14 million per year is an absolute steal.
Per the terms of the contract, the Cubs will have the ability to execute a team option at the end of this year, extending Imanaga’s contract until after the 2028 season. If the Cubs opt-out, it switches to an Imanaga option at $15 million. The same deal goes for after the 2026 season.
So, in a best case scenario, the Cubs will have Shota through 2028, at a discount price.
The Cubs starting pitching landscape becomes a bit hazy after 2026, as Boyd and Taillon become free agents following that season. However, Imanaga and a hopefully healthy Steele, under team control through 2027, make for a heck of a comparatively low-cost cornerstone for a future where there will be room to add more talent.
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