Chicago Cubs Shota Imanaga./Getty Images Korea
[마이데일리 = 김진성 기자] “It’s not a crazy contract. “This is the only reasonable contract.”
The hottest rising star in the Premier League this season is definitely Shota Imanaga (31, Chicago Cubs). He signed a 4-year, $53 million (approximately 72.1 billion won) free agent contract with the Cubs in the 2023-2024 free agent market. Naturally, he didn’t get the spotlight compared to Yoshinobu Yamamoto (26, LA Dodgers), who signed a 12-year contract worth $325 million and made history as the league’s top non-pitcher agent.
Chicago Cubs Shota Imanaga./Getty Images Korea
Imanaga signed a cheaper contract than Lee Jung-hoo (26, San Francisco Giants), who signed a six-year, $113 million contract. However, at this point, a month after the opening, the rookie attracting the most attention is not Yamamoto or Lee Jung-hoo, but Imanaga. 5 wins in 6 games this season with a 0.78 ERA. WHIP 0.75 and hitting percentage 0.172.
Imanaga recorded a career record of 64 wins, 50 losses, and a 3.18 ERA over eight years with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars. Although he had less of an impact than Yamamoto, who dominated Japanese baseball, he has been considered the best of left-handed pitchers. According to Statcast, Imanaga has four seamers in the low 90s, but his vertical movement is higher than the league average. In addition, a mixture of splitters, sweepers, curves, and two-seamers are used. He is a left handed striker with command and command.
Imanaga should be considered a front-runner in the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young races at this point. It was even selected as one of the best free agent contracts in 2023-2024 released by MLB.com on the 7th (Korea time). As a result of a survey of 23 top league executives, 9 voted for Imanaga.
An American League executive told MLB.com, “His ability to hit strikes is good, and his depth was a strength in stabilizing the Cubs’ unstable rotation. “Right now, a lot of teams are probably thinking, ‘What if he was on our team?'”
Another American League executive said, “This level of performance is not sustainable. However, Imanaga appears to be a WAR 3.0 pitcher at least in the short term, and the cost is not extreme. ” At this point, MLB.com noted that Imanaga’s contract is the 11th largest contract in the 2023-2024 free agent market.
Another American League executive said, “He was known for his pitching expectations, and it was well received. However, the spotlight has been on Yamamoto. “Imanaga is five years older than Yamamoto, and the Cubs performed well.”
Another American League executive even said, “He was the only pitcher who signed a reasonable contract at the time. “Not that we regret it, but our evaluation of it was very positive.” The nine executives who voted for Imanaga evaluated Imanaga as the best in terms of cost-effectiveness, even though the contract amount was less than that of Otani and Yamamoto.
Chicago Cubs Shota Imanaga./Getty Images Korea
Second place was Otani with 4 votes. No explanation needed. Executives said that because he was Otani, he signed a $700 million contract that would make major league history, and he actually showed a performance commensurate with that. Other players who received 1 vote were Jack Flaherty (Detroit Tigers), Sonny Gray (St. Louis Cardinals), Jordan Hicks (San Francisco Giants), Reynaldo Lopez (Atlanta Braves), Seth Lugo (Kansas City Royals), and Albert Suarez ( Baltimore). In addition, there is one executive who did not vote, saying that it is still too early to evaluate.
Correspondent Kim Jin-seong kkomag@mydaily.co.kr
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