The Cubs are adding to their pitching rotation.
Lefty Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga has a agreed to a deal with the club, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed Tuesday.
The news was first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who reported that the deal was tentative and that Imanaga is set to undergo a physical on Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not immediately reported.
Imanaga, 30, has a nickname of “The throwing Philosopher” thanks to his pitching exploits.
He has a career record of 64-50 with a 3.18 ERA in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, having played with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars since 2016.
He pitched six innings in last year’s World Baseball Classic, allowing two runs and striking out seven.
He has made the NPB All-Star game twice (2019 and 2023).
The Mets and Yankees had been considered other contenders to sign the pitcher, Heyman reported in December.
![The Yankees and Mets missed out on Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga, who has signed with the Cubs.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/GettyImages-1475144366.jpg?w=1024)
The Mets and Yankees also had been interested in Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who agreed to a 12-year deal worth a record $325 million with the Dodgers last month.
There are various opt-outs written into the deal relative to Yamamoto’s health.
The Cubs have otherwise had a relatively uneventful offseason on the player acquisition front, though they did poach free agent manager away from the Brewers on a five-year, $40 million contract that tops the managerial market.
The Mets had “serious” interest in signing Counsell as their manager after he worked with the team’s new president of baseball operations, David Stearns, in Milwaukee.
![Shota Imanaga had drawn plenty of major league interest.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/2023-03-24T175757Z_689085441_MT1USATODAY20308848_RTRMADP_3_BASEBALL-WORLD-BASEBALL-CLASSIC-CHAMPIONSHIP-JAPAN-VS-USA.jpg?w=1024)
“I think as I was going through this process, it became clear that I needed and wanted a new professional challenge,” Counsell said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“At the same time, look, I’m grateful to be part of this community. And that’s going to continue, hopefully, because it has nothing to do with baseball, that part of it. I’m looking forward to being part of a new community and hopefully impact our community well, too. But as I went through it, it just became clear that I needed a new challenge.”
Imanaga gives Chicago a replacement for Marcus Stroman, who became a free agent after opting out of his contract.
The Cubs also have lefty Justin Steele and right-handers Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon penciled into their rotation.
The Cubs went 83-79 last season and finished in second place in the NL Central but nine games behind the Brewers atop the division and one game out of a wild card spot.