Mike Mulligan

It means a lot to the Japanese player to be part of that.

And he gave that up to be better prepared for this Cubs season.

Well, then I believe that... He'd be an MLB.

I don't think he'd have a $22 million contract.

I don't think that would be his average annual.

Somebody might assign him to a two-year, a $19 million deal or something like that, or two for 20.

I don't know that he would have been...

Am I overstating that?

I haven't thought about that part of the equation.

That's off the top of my head.

Might have been less.

Might have been less.

Jed's exactly right, though.

And we all, whether you want to call it recency bias or we can feel the bars and we're all prisoners of the moment because in this moment,

Shota Imanaga is the Cubs' best pitcher.

I did not think we'd be saying that on April 16th.

I did not think that we'd be saying that at any point in 2026.

But here we are.

After last night, you heard the highlights coming in.

The guy that Dustin was fearing facing ever again two nights ago struck out three times against Shota.