The last time Milwaukee Brewers fans saw Shota Imanaga, he was walking off the mound after a messy outing in Game 2 of the NLDS.
In fact, that performance was so disastrous that the Chicago Cubs elected to keep Imanaga sidelined in the decisive Game 5, despite the fact that he was scheduled to start on full rest. The Brewers, of course, eliminated Chicago in that game, and it appears that the Cubs' relationship with the Japanese southpaw never recovered.
The Cubs then surprisingly declined his three-year team option, which Imanaga responded to by declining his own player option (it was a complicated contract), making the 32-year-old a free agent.