Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga agrees with Cubs

The Cubs made their first decisive move this winter by agreeing to Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga pending medical treatment, sources told MLB Network’s Jon Paul Morosi on Tuesday night.

Chicago’s North team hasn’t made any noise this offseason other than hiring Craig Counsell as their manager, but with Imanaga they’ve added a luxury starter to the rotation.

Imanaga was placed in the post system by the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, giving him a major league opportunity after eight seasons in Nippon professional baseball.

While Imanaga hasn’t made as much of a splash as his compatriot Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 30-year-old left-hander is an excellent pitcher in his own right and could be a second or third starter in the majors.

Using a mixture of four pitches including a fastball, splitter, slider and curveball, Imanaga had a 3.18 ERA in 1,002.2 career innings in Japan.

Major League fans got a good look at Imanaga when he pitched for his country at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. After strong performances against South Korea in the group stage and against Italy in the quarterfinals, Imanaga started and won the deciding game against the United States. team.