For those who want to see Maddux finish his career as a Cub, think on this. If Maddux is on the Cubs at the end of the season, there is almost no chance he'll pitch here next season. Think of how the arbitration deadline will affect things and wo is Maddux's agent. First of all, there's no way the Cubs offer Maddux arbitration. At his age, he's only going to get a one-year deal, so he'd love to jump at an arbitration offer and use his career stats to get a 10-11 million dollar deal. So, by not offering him arbitration, the Cubs would have to re-sign him by the early December date. That is usually the start of the Winter Meetings. That leads me to the second point. There's no way Maddux signs an "economically" favorable deal by that point. His agent is Boras who loves to play the waiting game. The only way Boras lets Maddux jump at an early deal is if it's a good one. Boras will expect 6+ million for Maddux. So, there's no way he signs that early. By keeping Maddux for the remainder of the year, the Cubs guarantee he's not back next season. By trading him, the Cubs could continue to work on a deal to bring him back in the offseason with no artificial deadlines affecting the progress.