Doesn’t sound all that exciting, but this is a pretty darn nice honor for Shōta Imanaga in his debut MLB season: fifth in the NL Cy Young race. The thing was all but decided for Chris Sale, and Imanaga was not a finalist. But, still, nice recognition, including being named in the top five of more than half the ballots.
From the BBWAA:Imanaga, 31, threw 173. 1 innings of 2. 91 ERA ball for the Cubs this year, posting a 15-3 pitcher win-loss record that no doubt helped him in this voting.
But even setting that aside, he had the third best ERA in the NL among qualified pitchers. He got results. In addition to the honor of having finished fifth in the voting, Imanaga also gets a little bump in his contract: he had an escalator clause that gives him $1 million more each year if he wins the Cy Young, $500,000 if he finishes second or third, and $250,000 if he finishes fourth through tenth.
He just did that last one, so next year, you can tack on another $250,000 to $13. 25M base salary. (His contract gets massively complex from there, as you may recall.
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