Well, I don't think anyone saw that one coming. The Houston Astros, who weren't mentioned at all in rumors, are the winners of the Tatsuya Imai sweepstakes - and the price they paid fell well short of pretty much every projection: three years, $63 million, with opt-outs after each of the first two seasons.
I know the knee-jerk reaction of most Chicago Cubs fans who were hoping Imai would come to the North Side and Jed Hoyer would start 2026 with a bang: how did we not beat that offer?
Well, for one, the Cubs may have.