Shu014dta Imanaga will be on the bump Tuesday to open the Cubs’ crosstown series against the White Sox as he makes his first start since a disastrous outing in Milwaukee. It’s a testament to just how great he’s been that his ERA is still at a sterling 1.86 after allowing seven earned runs over 4.1 innings. Bad start aside, Imanaga has been far better than anyone expected at this early juncture. But just how much better depends on how various teams judged his talent.
There’s an excellent piece on that topic in The Athletic, which I had to jump through hoops to re-subscribe to in order to read it, from a combination of Patrick Mooney, Sahadev Sharma, and Ken Rosenthal.