Offseason Rumors

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm pretty sure he had an anxiety disorder, not psychosis.

 

But what was wrong with Greene?

 

lol

[HoopsCubs]

Here's some information I just received from a trusted source: the Cubs and the Blue Jays have had a preliminary discussion on a deal that would send Jeff Samardzija and Darwin Barney to Toronto for "high end pitching prospects." My understanding is that Toronto's management feels that acquiring the right-handed hardthrower and the Gold Glove infielder, and inserting them into their nucleus of Dickey, Buehrle, Happ, Encarnacion, Bautista and Reyes strengthens their team's win now approach for the next 2 years.

 

The prospects' names were not provided to me, so I'll let you farm system wizards figure out if Toronto has anybody that would qualify as "high end" and someone they might be looking to trade for a short term gain.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez.

[davell]

Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez.

Didn't Osuna just have or is supposed to have TJS?

 

Sanchez is a solid prospect, but Law or Parks recently mentioned he's developed a bad follow through that is keeping his ball straighter.

 

Drabek has always appeared to be a guy this FO has coveted. Or at least he's been mentioned plenty in past trade rumors involving the two teams. I've always liked Drew Hutchison myself, he's pitching again, recovering from TJS as well.

 

Cardona has upside, Nolin is a slightly better Rusin....Stilson looks like a very solid bullpen arm, although unless he's a 3rd/4th piece, I'm not all that interested.

 

Alberto Tirado is an interesting lower level, upside arm.

 

Damn, forgot about Daniel Norris....He'd give the system a hard throwing lefty, something that's lacking. Very solid upside, although control issues and his delivery don't make him THAT likely to get there.

 

Give me Sanchez and Hutchison and I'm happy. Give me one of them, Drabek, Norris, and Stilson and I'm happy enough.

[Guest]

Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez.

Didn't Osuna just have or is supposed to have TJS?

 

Sanchez is a solid prospect, but Law or Parks recently mentioned he's developed a bad follow through that is keeping his ball straighter.

 

Drabek has always appeared to be a guy this FO has coveted. Or at least he's been mentioned plenty in past trade rumors involving the two teams. I've always liked Drew Hutchison myself, he's pitching again, recovering from TJS as well.

 

Cardona has upside, Nolin is a slightly better Rusin....Stilson looks like a very solid bullpen arm, although unless he's a 3rd/4th piece, I'm not all that interested.

 

Alberto Tirado is an interesting lower level, upside arm.

 

Damn, forgot about Daniel Norris....He'd give the system a hard throwing lefty, something that's lacking. Very solid upside, although control issues and his delivery don't make him THAT likely to get there.

 

Give me Sanchez and Hutchison and I'm happy. Give me one of them, Drabek, Norris, and Stilson and I'm happy enough.

 

You forgot their second best arm, Marcus Stroman.

[davell]

[expletive]. Yeah, he's certainly up on the wish list. He'd be 3 for me though, behind Sanchez and Hutchison(not a rookie anyway)

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Didn't Sanchez get hurt this year? I know I'm super-biased about pitching injuries, but surely we can find some prospects without them.

[Clem Fandango]

Are there other young pitching/quality prospect rich systems that Samardzija makes sense for instead? I feel like after they blew their wad on Dickey and the Reyes/Buehrle deal they don't have much left. Feels like Samardzija could garner a heftier return from a better system?

[davell]

Didn't Sanchez get hurt this year? I know I'm super-biased about pitching injuries, but surely we can find some prospects without them.

Yeah, he had a shoulder issue. He's pitching in the AFL now.

[Guest]

It's hard for me to get terribly excited about a deal that sends both Samardzija and Barney to Toronto. I'm okay with making 2014 equal or even potentially worse to make the next few years much, much better, but there's little chance a deal with Toronto doesn't make the 2014 much worse. Sanchez is 2 years from significant MLB innings, Nolin is a nice arm but still has only 19 IP above AA, and Stroman for his dominant year has zero. I'd honestly need all 3 of them for Shark, although Gose wouldn't be a bad substitute either.

[Guest]

Are there other young pitching/quality prospect rich systems that Samardzija makes sense for instead? I feel like after they blew their wad on Dickey and the Reyes/Buehrle deal they don't have much left. Feels like Samardzija could garner a heftier return from a better system?

 

Sanchez will probably be a top 25 prospect and Stroman will be a top 50 for any publication that believes he can start.

[RynoRules]

Here's some information I just received from a trusted source: the Cubs and the Blue Jays have had a preliminary discussion on a deal that would send Jeff Samardzija and Darwin Barney to Toronto for "high end pitching prospects." My understanding is that Toronto's management feels that acquiring the right-handed hardthrower and the Gold Glove infielder, and inserting them into their nucleus of Dickey, Buehrle, Happ, Encarnacion, Bautista and Reyes strengthens their team's win now approach for the next 2 years.

 

The prospects' names were not provided to me, so I'll let you farm system wizards figure out if Toronto has anybody that would qualify as "high end" and someone they might be looking to trade for a short term gain.

 

Damn good to have you back, HC.

[RynoRules]

It's hard for me to get terribly excited about a deal that sends both Samardzija and Barney to Toronto. I'm okay with making 2014 equal or even potentially worse to make the next few years much, much better, but there's little chance a deal with Toronto doesn't make the 2014 much worse. Sanchez is 2 years from significant MLB innings, Nolin is a nice arm but still has only 19 IP above AA, and Stroman for his dominant year has zero. I'd honestly need all 3 of them for Shark, although Gose wouldn't be a bad substitute either.

 

I get what you're saying about Shark, but what about replacing him through free agency or another trade? And will we really miss Barney? I don't think this trade necessarily makes us that much worse.

[HoopsCubs]

Are there other young pitching/quality prospect rich systems that Samardzija makes sense for instead? I feel like after they blew their wad on Dickey and the Reyes/Buehrle deal they don't have much left. Feels like Samardzija could garner a heftier return from a better system?

 

Just solely based on what many of you have written on this board over the last month, it seems like the Kansas City Royals have some terrific arms in the upper minor leagues. Using Toronto's logic of replacing Josh Johnson and getting a defensive upgrade over Emilion Bonifacio, would the Royals entertain the Cubs deal since Ervin Santana may leave and Chris Getz has not blossomed into a good defender?

[davell]

Are there other young pitching/quality prospect rich systems that Samardzija makes sense for instead? I feel like after they blew their wad on Dickey and the Reyes/Buehrle deal they don't have much left. Feels like Samardzija could garner a heftier return from a better system?

There's plenty.

 

Kansas City- Zimmer, Ventura, Duffy, Almonte

 

Pittsburgh-Taillon, Kingham, Heredia, Glasnow

 

Arizona-Bradley, Skaggs, Delgado, Holmberg, Chafin

 

Baltimore-Bundy, Gausman, Rodriguez

 

Washington-Cole, Giolito, Karns, Solis

 

Bradley isn't happening, Taillon may not be realistic either. But each of those teams can certainly build a package without them.

[rawaction]

Really don't know what the front office is thinking, but I hope they'd spin some of the far away from the majors arms for a guy or 2 closer to making an impact. Gotta start putting some of the pieces in place ratherthan hoping they all develop qquickly together in 2015. At some point it becomes too many eggs in the prospect basket, especially since Rizzo and Castro aren't completely etched in stone in this organization's future.

 

That being said, I'm all in on trading Shark. But really would like to replace some of his production ASAP. ...in addition to adding to the rest of the team.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

If it happens, I still hope it's the Royals and Zimmer is involved.

[Guest]

It's hard for me to get terribly excited about a deal that sends both Samardzija and Barney to Toronto. I'm okay with making 2014 equal or even potentially worse to make the next few years much, much better, but there's little chance a deal with Toronto doesn't make the 2014 much worse. Sanchez is 2 years from significant MLB innings, Nolin is a nice arm but still has only 19 IP above AA, and Stroman for his dominant year has zero. I'd honestly need all 3 of them for Shark, although Gose wouldn't be a bad substitute either.

 

I get what you're saying about Shark, but what about replacing him through free agency or another trade? And will we really miss Barney? I don't think this trade necessarily makes us that much worse.

Why trade Shark for prospects and then trade prospects for a guy like Shark?

[davell]

If it happens, I still hope it's the Royals and Zimmer is involved.

I hope it's the Royals too, but I do like Ventura more than Zimmer, size be damned. Ventura and Duffy would probably be my favorite package not involving Bradley or Taillon.

[HoopsCubs]

Really don't know what the front office is thinking, but I hope they'd spin some of the far away from the majors arms for a guy or 2 closer to making an impact. Gotta start putting some of the pieces in place ratherthan hoping they all develop qquickly together in 2015. At some point it becomes too many eggs in the prospect basket, especially since Rizzo and Castro aren't completely etched in stone in this organization's future.

 

That being said, I'm all in on trading Shark. But really would like to replace some of his production ASAP. ...in addition to adding to the rest of the team.

 

Raw-We can speculate what they're thinking. They have convinced themselves that they will have plenty of hitting, but are not convinced that the rotation will be formidable enough to sustain long term success. So, they're going to take major league pieces and move them for the highest caliber 'near major league ready' pitching they can get. They're asking the tough questions: "what would Samardzija, Barney, Castro, Russell and Castillo get us?" If they got 2 top 3 prospects from a couple of teams, draft a college pitcher in 2014, and see good growth from Arietta, Wood, Edwards, Hendricks and Pierce Johnson, then they would feel better about their chances.

[Guest]

It's hard for me to get terribly excited about a deal that sends both Samardzija and Barney to Toronto. I'm okay with making 2014 equal or even potentially worse to make the next few years much, much better, but there's little chance a deal with Toronto doesn't make the 2014 much worse. Sanchez is 2 years from significant MLB innings, Nolin is a nice arm but still has only 19 IP above AA, and Stroman for his dominant year has zero. I'd honestly need all 3 of them for Shark, although Gose wouldn't be a bad substitute either.

 

I get what you're saying about Shark, but what about replacing him through free agency or another trade? And will we really miss Barney? I don't think this trade necessarily makes us that much worse.

Why trade Shark for prospects and then trade prospects for a guy like Shark?

 

Probably because the guy like Shark either has more team control, you like his ability to take the next step more, or he's more amenable to a long-term deal, or some combination of those.

 

With that in mind, it's not a terrible idea, but there's enough holes on the team and enough potential suitors for Shark that you shouldn't need to get an "all future, no present" package for him. You can either have the big prospect be expected to step into the rotation(Skaggs, Taillon, maybe Ventura), or you can get a secondary piece that has already shown they belong at the MLB level(Duffy, Tepesch, Eaton, Tabata) to mitigate the MLB talent drain. Ideally you'd do both, but with the Blue Jays(and the Nationals for that matter), you likely do neither.

[Cubswin11]

It's hard for me to get terribly excited about a deal that sends both Samardzija and Barney to Toronto. I'm okay with making 2014 equal or even potentially worse to make the next few years much, much better, but there's little chance a deal with Toronto doesn't make the 2014 much worse. Sanchez is 2 years from significant MLB innings, Nolin is a nice arm but still has only 19 IP above AA, and Stroman for his dominant year has zero. I'd honestly need all 3 of them for Shark, although Gose wouldn't be a bad substitute either.

 

I get what you're saying about Shark, but what about replacing him through free agency or another trade? And will we really miss Barney? I don't think this trade necessarily makes us that much worse.

Why trade Shark for prospects and then trade prospects for a guy like Shark?

He could be replaced with Tanaka, which obviously is just a cash transaction and you also gain prospects out of it while letting the cash be roughly neutral.

[imb]

Trade with SF for Crick.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's hard for me to get terribly excited about a deal that sends both Samardzija and Barney to Toronto. I'm okay with making 2014 equal or even potentially worse to make the next few years much, much better, but there's little chance a deal with Toronto doesn't make the 2014 much worse. Sanchez is 2 years from significant MLB innings, Nolin is a nice arm but still has only 19 IP above AA, and Stroman for his dominant year has zero. I'd honestly need all 3 of them for Shark, although Gose wouldn't be a bad substitute either.

 

I get what you're saying about Shark, but what about replacing him through free agency or another trade? And will we really miss Barney? I don't think this trade necessarily makes us that much worse.

Why trade Shark for prospects and then trade prospects for a guy like Shark?

He could be replaced with Tanaka, which obviously is just a cash transaction and you also gain prospects out of it while letting the cash be roughly neutral.

 

The cash wouldn't be anywhere close to neutral

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

If it happens, I still hope it's the Royals and Zimmer is involved.

I hope it's the Royals too, but I do like Ventura more than Zimmer, size be damned. Ventura and Duffy would probably be my favorite package not involving Bradley or Taillon.

 

The Royals should be desperate enough at this point to give us Zimmer AND Ventura.