While the Chicago Cubs have been relatively quiet this offseason, this seems to be a byproduct of the current market as opposed to an indication that the club will be hesitant to make moves.
Cubs GM Carter Hawkins has emphasized the need for patience this winter, as the players who sign the earliest typically do so because they’ve been given deals that exceed their value and will probably result in overpays.
Since the Cubs are on a relatively tight budget compared to several other playoff-caliber squads, they can’t afford to make the same mistake of overpaying players. Therefore, they’re most inclined to sit tight until the market settles and then make their moves.
However, several players demand free agency action over the next couple of weeks. These are the three top Japanese players (Munataka Murakami, Kazuma Okamoto, and Tatsuya Imai) who have been posted by their respective Nippon Professional Baseball (NPV) leagues this winter. Once they’re posted, NPB players have to be signed within 45 days, or else they must return to Japan.
Murakami’s 45-day window expires on December 22, Okamoto’s window expires on January 4, and Imai has to sign with an MLB team by January 2. So all three of these players almost certainly will have signed an MLB contract by the first week of 2026.
Cubs Called One of Three Favorites to Sign Tatsuya Imai
Several MLB insiders have linked the Cubs to Tatsuya Imai this offseason. And it seems that the interest is mutual, which Jared Diamond of The Wall Street Journal conveyed in a December 16 article.
“Naturally, [Imai] has plenty of suitors lining up to pay him somewhere between $150 million and $200 million, a group that includes the deep-pocketed New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He is expected to begin meeting with potential employers in America as soon as this week and has until Jan. 2 to pick a team,” Diamond wrote, which was excerpted in an X post from @YankeeReport_.
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Hearing that the Cubs could be competing with the Yankees and the Phillies for Imai’s services is good news, if only because it means some other big spenders like the Dodgers and the Mets aren’t seen as likely to sign him.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post has projected that Imai will sign an eight-year, $200 million deal. While this would be the biggest contract a Cubs player has ever received, Imai would make that look like a bargain once his MLB career begins.
