Shota sure would have looked good in the Cards rotation...

[CCard]

But the penny pinching owners were happy with Fedde, Pallante and hope of a young guy pitching like a top tier starter. This is what penny pinching by the billionaire owners looks like. The Cubs are clearly a better team. They were lucky a split happened. If the Cubs had a little more starting pitching they would actually be a threat to the Dodgers.

Maybe a Japanese pitcher wasn’t as interested in St. Louis as Chicago?

He came to St.Louis first, I seem to recall. And of course they decided on the cheaper options. I really shocked he didn't wind up on the coast somewhere. Tell me he would be our number 1 pitcher right now.

Uhhhh what?

I believe he had a demonstration with the Cards and then left town to visit the Cubs. Cards could have ponied up and made him an great offer and he likely would have signed. But no, they let him leave town without even an offer, I believe.

1. This never happened
2. Even if it did (which it didnt)why would he sign immediately i stead of exploring other offers- you think he doesnt know he will get other offers? Any agent would tell him to explore and not just sign first offer given to him.
3. St louis just isnt a desirable city for foreigners.

I believe that I saw this in the Stl Today forum. At the time there were people saying sign him now, don't let him leave town without a contract. As for your other point, players and their agents don't visit every city in MLB. He did come to St. Louis, I'm pretty sure of this, but I wouldn't bet my farm. Many times players sign when they get a desirable contract. If not then how do you explain him landing in Chicago? He easily could have gotten a little more on the coasts. He didn't but even if he did, makes you sound like a some politicians today. Do better.

[Wattage]

But the penny pinching owners were happy with Fedde, Pallante and hope of a young guy pitching like a top tier starter. This is what penny pinching by the billionaire owners looks like. The Cubs are clearly a better team. They were lucky a split happened. If the Cubs had a little more starting pitching they would actually be a threat to the Dodgers.

Maybe a Japanese pitcher wasn’t as interested in St. Louis as Chicago?

He came to St.Louis first, I seem to recall. And of course they decided on the cheaper options. I really shocked he didn't wind up on the coast somewhere. Tell me he would be our number 1 pitcher right now.

Uhhhh what?

I believe he had a demonstration with the Cards and then left town to visit the Cubs. Cards could have ponied up and made him an great offer and he likely would have signed. But no, they let him leave town without even an offer, I believe.

1. This never happened
2. Even if it did (which it didnt)why would he sign immediately i stead of exploring other offers- you think he doesnt know he will get other offers? Any agent would tell him to explore and not just sign first offer given to him.
3. St louis just isnt a desirable city for foreigners.

I believe that I saw this in the Stl Today forum. At the time there were people saying sign him now, don't let him leave town without a contract. As for your other point, players and their agents don't visit every city in MLB. He did come to St. Louis, I'm pretty sure of this, but I wouldn't bet my farm. Many times players sign when they get a desirable contract. If not then how do you explain him landing in Chicago? He easily could have gotten a little more on the coasts. He didn't but even if he did, makes you sound like a some politicians today. Do better.

They arent gonna visit every city but they will visit several. See if others match unless your offer is so absurd .

Dodgers and yankees cant sign everyone. Dodgers already had like 9 starters signed. After the cubs yankees mets phillies, (and toronto but they have higher tax rates cancelling salaries out), the cubs arent that far down of a gao behind the next leaders in payroll.

I also cant find any mention of imanga visiting st. Louis. Its also doubtful cards wpuld have been major players since we signed lynn sonny gray and gibson almost immediately that off seaspn and thus likely wouldnt have been looking to sign 4 free agent starters.

Now you can call those 3 signings dumb and poor management by mo but thats a different story.

[CCard]

But the penny pinching owners were happy with Fedde, Pallante and hope of a young guy pitching like a top tier starter. This is what penny pinching by the billionaire owners looks like. The Cubs are clearly a better team. They were lucky a split happened. If the Cubs had a little more starting pitching they would actually be a threat to the Dodgers.

Maybe a Japanese pitcher wasn’t as interested in St. Louis as Chicago?

He came to St.Louis first, I seem to recall. And of course they decided on the cheaper options. I really shocked he didn't wind up on the coast somewhere. Tell me he would be our number 1 pitcher right now.

Uhhhh what?

I believe he had a demonstration with the Cards and then left town to visit the Cubs. Cards could have ponied up and made him an great offer and he likely would have signed. But no, they let him leave town without even an offer, I believe.

1. This never happened
2. Even if it did (which it didnt)why would he sign immediately i stead of exploring other offers- you think he doesnt know he will get other offers? Any agent would tell him to explore and not just sign first offer given to him.
3. St louis just isnt a desirable city for foreigners.

I believe that I saw this in the Stl Today forum. At the time there were people saying sign him now, don't let him leave town without a contract. As for your other point, players and their agents don't visit every city in MLB. He did come to St. Louis, I'm pretty sure of this, but I wouldn't bet my farm. Many times players sign when they get a desirable contract. If not then how do you explain him landing in Chicago? He easily could have gotten a little more on the coasts. He didn't but even if he did, makes you sound like a some politicians today. Do better.

They arent gonna visit every city but they will visit several. See if others match unless your offer is so absurd .

Dodgers and yankees cant sign everyone. Dodgers already had like 9 starters signed. After the cubs yankees mets phillies, (and toronto but they have higher tax rates cancelling salaries out), the cubs arent that far down of a gao behind the next leaders in payroll.

I also cant find any mention of imanga visiting st. Louis. Its also doubtful cards wpuld have been major players since we signed lynn sonny gray and gibson almost immediately that off seaspn and thus likely wouldnt have been looking to sign 4 free agent starters.

Now you can call those 3 signings dumb and poor management by mo but thats a different story.

They knew who was available and they went with quantity instead of quality. They were planning to fail and I'm sure it shocked them that Gibson and Lynn did as good as they did. The Dodgers aren't the only team willing to sign big free agent players. Sure the Dodgers had a lot of starters, still have, but it's not like it was only the Dodgers or Cubs.

The information available doesn't directly state whether Shota Imanaga worked out for the Cardinals before signing with the Cubs
.
However, the provided search results mention several teams interested in Imanaga during his free agency period before signing with the Cubs in January 2024. These teams included the Giants, Red Sox, and Angels as finalists, while others like the Yankees, Phillies, Mets, and Dodgers were also mentioned as having some interest. The Cardinals were not among the teams explicitly listed as having worked out Imanaga.
Therefore, based on the provided information, there is no indication that Imanaga worked out for the Cardinals before signing with the Cubs.

So I must have been wrong about him visiting St Louis. Apparently he wasn't even good enough for them to bother checking on him. LOL

[ClassicO]

Many of us were dying for the Cards to outbid anyone for this guy, but there's no indication that, even with some extra money, he wanted to come here.
C'est la vie; c'est la guerre.

[Strummer Jones]

I don't remember ANY noise from STL about wanting this guy.

[peterman'srealitytour]

But the penny pinching owners were happy with Fedde, Pallante and hope of a young guy pitching like a top tier starter. This is what penny pinching by the billionaire owners looks like. The Cubs are clearly a better team. They were lucky a split happened. If the Cubs had a little more starting pitching they would actually be a threat to the Dodgers.

Maybe a Japanese pitcher wasn’t as interested in St. Louis as Chicago?

No...players never have a say in where they sign, some CT players think
It doesn't take two to agree. It's a grocery store and you pull one off the shelf and pay for it at checkout.

The Mozeliak will open shop at Dollar General. Unless, of course, he’s shopping for a bow tie.

[Bad14]

But the penny pinching owners were happy with Fedde, Pallante and hope of a young guy pitching like a top tier starter. This is what penny pinching by the billionaire owners looks like. The Cubs are clearly a better team. They were lucky a split happened. If the Cubs had a little more starting pitching they would actually be a threat to the Dodgers.

Maybe a Japanese pitcher wasn’t as interested in St. Louis as Chicago?

He came to St.Louis first, I seem to recall. And of course they decided on the cheaper options. I really shocked he didn't wind up on the coast somewhere. Tell me he would be our number 1 pitcher right now.

Uhhhh what?

I believe he had a demonstration with the Cards and then left town to visit the Cubs. Cards could have ponied up and made him an great offer and he likely would have signed. But no, they let him leave town without even an offer, I believe.

None of us know what discussions took place. Moreover, would you join a team if no one spoke your language? I wouldn't.

[butsir01]

But the penny pinching owners were happy with Fedde, Pallante and hope of a young guy pitching like a top tier starter. This is what penny pinching by the billionaire owners looks like. The Cubs are clearly a better team. They were lucky a split happened. If the Cubs had a little more starting pitching they would actually be a threat to the Dodgers.

Maybe a Japanese pitcher wasn’t as interested in St. Louis as Chicago?

No...players never have a say in where they sign, some CT players think
It doesn't take two to agree. It's a grocery store and you pull one off the shelf and pay for it at checkout.

The Mozeliak will open shop at Dollar General. Unless, of course, he’s shopping for a bow tie.

The, it’s Family Dollar or Boyd’s.

[Cusecards]

Many of us were dying for the Cards to outbid anyone for this guy, but there's no indication that, even with some extra money, he wanted to come here.
C'est la vie; c'est la guerre.

Could certainly be the case.
Since we have very little info on what he wanted and where he desired to locate speculating is probably just a (bleep) shoot.
So putting the blame on the Cards FO is really not fair based on how little we know.
And of course hindsight is always 20/20.