Imanaga Is a Free Agent Again, and the Option Wave Just Rebuilt the Board

No games were played on Thursday, and none are scheduled today. The board moved anyway. Between the option decisions that landed this week and the freshest name to hit the open market, the free-agent class that front offices have been calling thin all month quietly changed shape — and Friday morning is a good time to take stock of who is actually available.

The freshest name on the market: Shota Imanaga

Start with the left-hander in Chicago. Shota Imanaga is a free agent again after three seasons with the Cubs, and this time there is no qualifying offer attached to him — he is not one of the eight players who received the $23.15 million offer on Monday, so signing him costs a team nothing but the contract itself.

Imanaga’s 2026 line explains both the interest and the caution. He finished 11–10 with a 3.77 ERA across 32 starts, striking out 174 batters in 174⅓ innings, according to the season review carried by Heavy this week. The trend line matters as much as the totals: his ERA has climbed each year in Chicago, from 2.91 in his 2024 debut season to 3.73 and then 3.77, per The Athletic’s assessment of his market. This is the second straight winter he has stood in this exact spot — last November the Cubs declined his club option, he became a free agent, and on November 18 he accepted a $22 million qualifying offer to stay for one more run. There is no such safety net this time.

The early projections are modest by ace standards and interesting because of it. The Athletic’s Tim Britton projects a two-year, $34 million contract for Imanaga, and Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly, in his November 4 prediction set, landed on the same two years and $34 million — with the Miami Marlins as the destination. The Athletic ranks Imanaga the 21st-best free agent in the class, and the Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins have all been named as potential landing spots. In a winter where the top of the pitching market may not resolve until the December 1 labor deadline, a starter with Imanaga’s track record on a two-year deal is exactly the kind of move that can happen fast.

The option wave, team by team

The bigger story of the week was the sheer volume of option decisions, tracked by theScore’s transaction log. The exercised column kept real talent off the market: Houston picked up third baseman Isaac Paredes’ $13.35 million option, Detroit exercised right-hander Drew Anderson’s $10 million option, Tampa Bay kept shortstop Taylor Walls at $3.1 million, San Diego kept left-hander Kyle Hart at $2.5 million, and Milwaukee — in the move that mattered most to the champions — exercised catcher William Contreras’ $15.5 million option, keeping the World Series MVP behind the plate for the title defense.

The declined column is where the market grew. Detroit declined closer Kenley Jansen’s $12 million option. San Diego declined two rotation names, Lucas Giolito at $8 million and Griffin Canning at $5 million. Baltimore declined first baseman Ryan Mountcastle at $7.5 million and reliever Dietrich Enns at $3.5 million. Toronto declined outfielder Myles Straw’s $8 million option. St. Louis declined reliever Ryne Stanek at $6.5 million. Chicago’s bullpen thinned out in a single afternoon: the Cubs declined Colin Rea ($7.5 million), Hunter Harvey ($8 million) and Caleb Thielbar ($6 million), while bringing back right-hander Jacob Webb for one year at $2.5 million. Milwaukee declined Gary Sánchez ($1.75 million) and Antonio Senzatela ($14 million). Atlanta, meanwhile, claimed left-hander Mitchell Parker off waivers from Washington, and Detroit signed right-hander Jacob Waguespack to a one-year contract.

The week’s smaller print still counts. On Thursday the Rays signed right-hander Levi Stoudt to a minor-league contract. On Wednesday, Toronto signed outfielder Rudy Martin Jr. to a minor-league deal, the White Sox signed right-hander Alec Marsh to a minor-league deal, and St. Louis signed right-hander Josh Fleming to a minor-league deal. None of those names will lead a talk show. Every one of them is the kind of depth signing that looks smarter in June than it does in November.

What the next seven days bring

Now the calendar takes over. The general managers’ meetings open next week, the first real room where this winter’s prices get tested face to face — Milwaukee’s Matt Arnold was already planning for them the day after the championship parade, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Awards week runs Monday through Thursday: the Rookie of the Year winners are announced Monday, and the week closes with the MVP awards on Thursday, November 12, where Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 40–40 season and Yordan Alvarez’s career year are the headliners. Then, on Tuesday, November 17, the eight qualifying-offer decisions come due at the same time the Silver Slugger winners are announced.

All of it is happening against the same backdrop we have written about all week: the collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, and a lockout is widely expected behind it. Imanaga, Jansen, Giolito and the rest of the newly free are not just shopping for contracts. They are shopping against a clock — and after this week, there are a lot more of them than there were on Monday.

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