The Chicago Cubs don't have the most youthful starting pitching rotation.
There's one avenue in free agency where they could change that: Tatsuya Imai.
Unlike more veteran MLB free agents, Imai is coming over from Japan, and he's just 27 years old.
The Athletic's Jim Bowden lists the Cubs as his number one free agent "match" for Imai.
The one problem for the Cubs is that Bowden also lists the highly competitive Yankees and Mets as the other best matches for Imai.
"Imai is fascinating," Bowden writes. "His small frame may scare off some but given his dominance and durability in Japan, it shouldn’t be a concern for most teams. The teams that he’s been linked to the most are the Cubs, Yankees, Mets and Padres, and all of those clubs make sense. The Cubs would like another starter and they could certainly use a younger option since three-fifths of their rotation is over 34 years old (Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea), making Imai a particularly good fit in Chicago."
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It'll feel like a weird offseason no matter what for the Cubs.
With Kyle Tucker leaving, there's a void that simply won't really be filled.
The best thing Chicago can do is try to bolster its roster in other ways, both to make up for the actual production loss of Tucker and also to just feel better about what it accomplished this winter than just losing a star player.
Imai would be a fun acquisition with both short-term ability and long-term upside. He's definitely worth going after for the Cubs.
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