Before the Cubs signed to a four-year, $53MM deal, the other finalists for Adam Macko Jersey Imanagas services were the Red Sox , Pirates , and Brewers , according to . Bostons in Imanaga was well-known, and Pittsburgh had to Imanagas market, even if the Bucs traditional lack of spending makes it somewhat surprising to learn that they apparently came relatively close to landing the southpaw. Of course, finalist is a bit of a nebulous term, and it isnt known just how close the Pirates mightve come to Chicago in the bidding. For instance, the Red Sox offered Imanaga two years and $26MM in guaranteed money according to , with two more vesting years covering the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The Brewers are also a surprise entry, as it wasnt publicly known that they were in on Imanaga at all, let alone one of the last four suitors in the running for his services. Milwaukee also often operates with a limited payroll (albeit not as limited as the Pirates budget), and its interesting to speculate on what the team mightve offered Imanaga, or whether signing the Japanese star mightve kept from the Crew from any of their other winter busine s. For instance, if the Brewers had signed Imanaga, would they have still had enough spending capacity to and/or , or would any further pitching additions wouldve been strictly of the lower-cost or minor league variety if Imanaga had been the teams big offseason strike. As Nightengale observes, any of Imanagas other suitors might have some regrets given how the left-hander has gotten his MLB career off to such a great start. Some other notes from around the NL Central recently received a cortisone shot to deal with the oblique strain that has kept him on the injured list for almost four weeks, MLB.coms John Denton writes ( ). The shot led to a shutdown, and it isnt clear when Carpenter will be ready to begin a minor league rehab a signment, though he has been able to take batting practice. Carpenter reunited with the Cardinals on a one-year deal this past winter, but played in just three games before suffering his oblique problem. X-rays were negative on both and after the Reds duo were each hit on the hand by pitches in Saturdays game. Encarnacion-Strand might be the slightly more serious situation of the two, as writes that the infielders X-ray revealed a small previous fracture in the same spot that CES was hit on Saturday. Encarnacion-Strand said he had no clue about the origin of the older injury, and he hadnt felt any discomfort prior to this most recent HBP. It isnt yet clear if Encarnacion-Strand will get an MRI to further explore the injury, but he hoped to return to the lineup within a day or two. Alek Manoah Jersey