Morning Rundown: Shota Imanaga signs with Cubs, Baseball America talks Pirates on Podcast
Cubs make a signing, Baseball America talks Pirates prospects
The Chicago Cubs have been quiet for most of the off-season but finally made a big splash on Tuesday, as they are nearing a deal with left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga, according to Bob Nightengale.
Also, according to Jim Bowden, the deal is ‘complicated’ and involves player/team options and escalators. It starts as a two-year deal worth $30 million that can go as high as 4/$60, potentially even $80 million.
Just missing out on the playoffs, the Cubs add their first big piece through free agency this off-season.
Baseball America has been going from organization to organization, talking about each system on their podcast, going along with the release of an updated Top 10 prospect list for each team.
On Tuesday, they finally dropped the episode on the Pirates and talked for about 30 minutes about the system.
Some highlights of the episode include;
A ‘hot take’ of Bubba Chandler being a lot closer to Paul Skenes than many think, which is something I’ve said here on this site after seeing him live in Greensboro.
They recognized that some of the numbers weren’t great, but there was no denying the talent.
Paul Skenes was brought up for a reasonable amount, talking about his potential and some of the questions about the fastball shape. They mentioned that in some of these situations, teams have that pitcher start throwing a sinker/two-seamer, which we saw some from Skenes in his brief time throwing in 2023.
Ultimately, they believe his overall arsenal of pitches should help him succeed in the majors.
They then talked about Termarr, who believed he was stuck between being a ‘power’ and ‘contact’ hitter and that he may not be able to do both, and he’ll have to decide what he is.
Mainly, he sacrificed some of the contact to try to destroy the ball, and he might have to be a bit of a ‘slow burner’ prospect to have him complete his game.
Jun-Seok Shim and Brandan Bidois were two lower-level pitchers they mentioned to watch in 2024.
Every Monday during the offseason, we will be doing a mailbag article. Please send in your questions to have them answered! Either comment below with ‘mailbag’ entered in the message or email us at bucsondeckqa@gmail.com.
I look forward to answering what you guys have!
The Imanga deal seems almost reasonable compared to what the rest of the starting market is doing.
Today's outlandish prediction with no statistical backup and only limited intellectual support: Lonnie white will be a top 5 org prospect and top 100 on some lists by the end of the year
There’s a sweet spot for Termarr for both above average contact and power. Let’s just hope he finds it sooner that Hayes found the optimal swing to generate both exit velocity and lift.
I’m confident he will find it in the next couple years. No substitue for God given talent.