Samardzija trade rumors

[NOLA]

That's why they're there.

Yeah, but it was a dive before they got there and it will be a dive when they decide it's become too mainstream and move on the the next one. I hate all of them.

[imb]

jason parks looks like eric wareheim lost some weight

[Clem Fandango]

I'll bet anything this guy's name is Linus or something equally douchey. People like this have "discovered" my neighborhood bar and they must be stopped.

"Do you guys carry Idaho Organic Huckleberry IPA?"

"The bar hasn't been painted in 40 years. STFU!"

 

Actually...

 

They identified the man in the original photograph as Dustin Mattson, a “coffee boss” at Octane Coffee in Atlanta, GA who placed 5th at the Southeast Regional Barista Competition 2010 and 27th place at the US Barista Championship 2010.

[Soul]

LOL. Of course he's a coffee boss

[Guest]

That's why they're there.

Yeah, but it was a dive before they got there and it will be a dive when they decide it's become too mainstream and move on the the next one. I hate all of them.

Faux dive.

[Guest]

you guys would HATE east nashville, haha.

 

but i will say that nashville has some of the most hospitable hipsters you'll find.

[KingCubsFan]

hospitable hipsters

 

Oxymoron

[NOLA]

That's why they're there.

Yeah, but it was a dive before they got there and it will be a dive when they decide it's become too mainstream and move on the the next one. I hate all of them.

Faux dive.

If you only knew...

[Guest]

But the rebuilding Chicago Cubs distinguished themselves last summer in their willingness to discuss trades. First, they moved Scott Feldman to Baltimore after the right-hander got off to a good start. They then swapped Matt Garza to the Texas Rangers and received what was generally considered to be the best package of the trade season: high-end pitching prospect C.J. Edwards, third baseman Mike Olt and right-handers Justin Grimm and Neil Ramirez.

 

Edwards was hurt earlier this season in Double-A, but the 20/20 hindsight perception of that trade within the industry is that Chicago did very well -- so well, in fact, that some rival executives believe that this trade helps frame a working model for what the minimum price will be for right-hander Jeff Samardzija.

 

“So you have an idea of just how expensive it will be,” one evaluator said.

 

Yes. Very.

 

At the time Garza was traded, he was about 10 weeks from qualifying for free agency. Samardzija, on the other hand, won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season.

 

Garza was in the market with some ugly injury history: He had missed months, making his last start in 2012 on July 21, and making his first start in 2013 on May 21. Samardzija, on the other hand, appears completely healthy.

 

And Samardzija right now appears as if he is a better pitcher than Garza was last year. Garza had a respectable 3.17 ERA at the time he was swapped to Texas. Samardzija, 29, has allowed just two homers in 61 innings and has posted a 1.62 ERA, and he is coming off a season in which he threw 213 innings. He has been one of the best pitchers in the National League so far, regardless of what his 0-4 record might suggest; only one pitcher in the majors has received less run support than Samardzija.

 

The Cubs need high-end pitching to match the strong collection of position players they are developing, and rival officials are already taking deep breaths and preparing for an extremely high asking price whenever they start conversations about Samardzija.

 

Given that there might be only one comparable pitcher in the market this summer -- David Price would be the No. 1 starter available, if the Rays choose to go that route -- the Cubs will be justified in setting a very high bar for Samardzjia. It will be a seller’s market.

“All it takes is one team saying yes,” one GM said.

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=6248

[muntjack]

What would be some reasonable packages if a trade occurred before his next start? I would love to see a big upper level OF bat come back because I can't find a comparable package centered around pitching.

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

Samardzija, on the other hand, won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season.

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=6248

 

Is this true? I thought he was after this season.

[davell]

What would be some reasonable packages if a trade occurred before his next start? I would love to see a big upper level OF bat come back because I can't find a comparable package centered around pitching.

 

If he's dealt, I want pitching and there's plenty of it around. Jonathan Gray(as a PTBNL or trade after the draft)and/or Eddie Butler, Alex Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, Kyle Crick, Edwin Escobar and Adalberto Mejia from the Giants, Kevin Gausman and/or Dylan Bundy, Lucas Giolito, or Andrew Heaney. If he's dealt and at least one from that list isn't involved, I'll be extremely surprised.

 

And yes, WSR, he's got another year of control.

[muntjack]

I didn't really think Jonathan Gray would be on the table, but I'd love to see that.

 

Butler (Mike Fontenot's doppelganger) would need a load of talent coming back with him.

 

Not interested in Aaron Sanchez (I assume that's who you meant), who walks 5.4/9 and Ks 7.3/9.

 

Stroman I like, even though he's been torched out of the bullpen in Toronto.

 

Crick doesn't give up HRs, probably cause he just walks anyone with power. (7.3 BB/9)!!!

 

Escobar is struggling mightily in AAA.

 

Mejia is getting beat up in AA and is the oldest looking 20 yr old ever.

 

Gausman is good

 

Bundy I would take a chance on, for sure.

 

Giolito is averaging 4 innings per start in A ball.

 

Heaney I like

 

The only package I wouldn't cry over is Gausman/Bundy and I wouldn't be jumping for joy at that. We're trading a major league ace with a year and a half left. The price needs to start with someone who is going to be our clear #1 pitching prospect and then build on that. The only guy clearly better than Edwards would be Gray (Gausman perhaps).

[dew1679666265]

 

Samardzija, on the other hand, won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season.

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=6248

 

Is this true? I thought he was after this season.

 

Cot's has him as arbitration eligible after this season and a free agent after 2015.

[Guest]

The only package I wouldn't cry over is Gausman/Bundy and I wouldn't be jumping for joy at that. We're trading a major league ace with a year and a half left. The price needs to start with someone who is going to be our clear #1 pitching prospect and then build on that. The only guy clearly better than Edwards would be Gray (Gausman perhaps).

 

Part of the reality of the situation is that surefire "yay" guys are either extremely difficult to get(like you alluded to with Gray), on teams that aren't really interested in Shark(Syndegaard), or already helping their teams at the MLB level(Ventura). Trading a pitcher for a package headlined by pitching has that hazard, and it's part of why Shark is still a Cub.

 

That said, from a numerical standpoint, part of that hesitation is justified more than it was a year ago. In terms of pure value, we can't really say any longer that Shark should demand a huge hoard of pitching prospects, even with his uptick in performance. The extra year of team control is too important.

 

Using the prospect values noted here, something like Gausman and Bundy would be a pretty good deal, and it's my current favorite for Samardzija that could at least semi-realistically happen. I'd even see if the next few weeks uncover some other hole that could be fixed by someone like Veras or Schierholtz(pending either of their bouncing back, of course) to see if we could try and get our hands on Dariel Alvarez as a flyer. If not, then there's still packages that can make sense, although a lot of it requires seeing through the haze of injury reports. Seattle might be interested and has a bunch of talented arms marred by injury to various degrees(Walker, Paxton, Hultzen). Who knows what that might do to their trade values in Jack Z's eyes or the certainty that he is counting on their performance with his job on the line. Dayton Moore is no stranger to trading prospects for 1+ year of a very good pitcher, and while Ventura isn't going to happen, Duffy and Zimmer are a nice 1-2 to headline a potential deal.

 

Those 3 are the systems that make the most sense to me, as they combine the talent and need with the circumstances to be able to see a deal coming together. Something like 27 teams are within 5 games of a playoff spot right now though, so there could certainly be others that emerge in the coming weeks too.

 

EDIT: Strange but true side note: Baltimore hasn't had a pitcher reach 3 fWAR since 2007. For reference, the Cubs have had 7 pitchers reach that threshold in those years since.

[Guest]

I didn't really think Jonathan Gray would be on the table, but I'd love to see that.

 

Butler (Mike Fontenot's doppelganger) would need a load of talent coming back with him.

 

Not interested in Aaron Sanchez (I assume that's who you meant), who walks 5.4/9 and Ks 7.3/9.

 

Stroman I like, even though he's been torched out of the bullpen in Toronto.

 

Crick doesn't give up HRs, probably cause he just walks anyone with power. (7.3 BB/9)!!!

 

Escobar is struggling mightily in AAA.

 

Mejia is getting beat up in AA and is the oldest looking 20 yr old ever.

 

Gausman is good

 

Bundy I would take a chance on, for sure.

 

Giolito is averaging 4 innings per start in A ball.

 

Heaney I like

 

The only package I wouldn't cry over is Gausman/Bundy and I wouldn't be jumping for joy at that. We're trading a major league ace with a year and a half left. The price needs to start with someone who is going to be our clear #1 pitching prospect and then build on that. The only guy clearly better than Edwards would be Gray (Gausman perhaps).

 

Giolito is better too. He's just being handled carefully in his first full season back from TJS, on a strict innings limit.

 

Plus, we're going to have to reassess how good a prospect Edwards is after his shoulder injury.

[muntjack]

I guess my point is that if we open up to the idea of the main piece being an OF bat, with some high risk/reward pitching to supplement, we'd have a lot more options.

[Guest]

yeah. i'm not set on pitching having to be the return, especially not to any significant detriment of overall value.

[Guest]

I guess my point is that if we open up to the idea of the main piece being an OF bat, with some high risk/reward pitching to supplement, we'd have a lot more options.

 

Certainly, but you might be surprised at how difficult it is to find an OF bat worth centering a deal around too. Once you take away the Top 5 mega-prospects who won't be coming back in such a deal(Buxton, Taveras), the guys on non-competitive teams who have zero interest in Shark(Springer, Renfroe), and the Cubs littering the top of the list(Soler, Almora, Bryant if you think him an OF), then the choices are similarly slim:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/position-by-position-rankings-center-fielders/

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/position-by-position-rankings-corner-outfielders/

 

There's a faint hope that someone could get hurt and LA would want to get involved, especially since they only have 3 SP for next year. Then you could dream on something like Pederson and Lee. As it stands now though, it's hard to see the Dodgers throwing a bunch of trade assets at their rotation when Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Haren, and Beckett are all pitching well.

[RammyFanny]

I guess my point is that if we open up to the idea of the main piece being an OF bat, with some high risk/reward pitching to supplement, we'd have a lot more options.

That's honestly my preference at this point if the bat is good enough. I'm pretty much all in with the quality bat, quantity pitchers approach (in the draft and in trades) with everything going on with pitching lately. It doesn't help that we are going to be relying on most of these guys as our main pieces as opposed to supplementing main pieces with them. If we end up with a surplus then we can look to trading off some pieces in the future for pitching.

[RammyFanny]

I guess my point is that if we open up to the idea of the main piece being an OF bat, with some high risk/reward pitching to supplement, we'd have a lot more options.

 

Certainly, but you might be surprised at how difficult it is to find an OF bat worth centering a deal around too. Once you take away the Top 5 mega-prospects who won't be coming back in such a deal(Buxton, Taveras), the guys on non-competitive teams who have zero interest in Shark(Springer, Renfroe), and the Cubs littering the top of the list(Soler, Almora, Bryant if you think him an OF), then the choices are similarly slim:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/position-by-position-rankings-center-fielders/

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/position-by-position-rankings-corner-outfielders/

 

There's a faint hope that someone could get hurt and LA would want to get involved, especially since they only have 3 SP for next year. Then you could dream on something like Pederson and Lee. As it stands now though, it's hard to see the Dodgers throwing a bunch of trade assets at their rotation when Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Haren, and Beckett are all pitching well.

I mentioned it a while back but the Dodgers thing is certainly my ideal scenario. But yeah, it's probably going to take a serious injury for that to become a legitimate scenario.

 

And I think if you're looking for bats, you can probably find something with the Rangers with Gallo, Odor, Alfaro, Williams, and Gonzales and Jackson as pitchers.

[Guest]

Pulling an edit into a post since it's really a separate thought, OF is definitely my focus for any Hammel deal. Names like Dickerson, Souza, Choice, or Tabata might be possible depending on how well he throws and where a given team is at in the standings. I'm sure we'll see a half dozen more TJS announcements before July and that should open up the possibilities further.

[Guest]

Maybe Kershaw is broken and we can get that LA scenario to happen. Wishful thinking off one horrid start (even though I hate saying that about an awesome player).

[muntjack]

If we were dealing with the dodgers, I'd want Urias.

[Guest]

If we were dealing with the dodgers, I'd want Urias.

 

He's had some recent shoulder problems. Pass.