5 free agents this Chicago Cubs must target this winter

Looking over this winter's list of MLB free agents and determining five players the Chicago Cubs must target to sign to return to contention.

World Baseball Classic Semifinals: Mexico v Japan
World Baseball Classic Semifinals: Mexico v Japan | Eric Espada/GettyImages
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5 free agents the Cubs must target - 2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Moving right into the second biggest fish in MLB free agency, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At 25 years old, Yamamoto has spent seven years in Japan and has posted elite numbers. For his career, he owns a sparkly 1.72 ERA. More impressively, he does it while pitching with a solid workload year in and year out. He eclipsed 170 innings pitched for the third year this season while touching 193 in the previous two seasons.

Given how sought after Kodai Senga was last winter, Yamamoto's numbers in Japan blow Senga out of the water. Projection-wise, the Athletic listed Yamamoto for around seven years/210.M or about 30.0M per season. Yamamoto will quickly adapt and excel rapidly at the MLB level. This is the most brilliant move if the Cubs want to make a serious splash in the starting rotation without breaking the bank for Shohei Ohtani.

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