I'm not saying they should abandon it, but eventually the market will catch on to the inefficiency that is giving them guys like Hammel and Feldman and Maholm. You can't count on it forever.
My enthusiasm for 2015 is rising. I said earlier in the year we were four players short assuming a Samardzija trade. Arrieta and Bryant could be half that.
Recipe for 2015: 1) Arrieta never gets hurt like every other good Cubs pitcher in history 2) Keep Samardzija 3) Bryant is good at baseball 4) Add one decent outfielder in the offseason. The resulting team is easily over .500 and in the hunt at worst all year.
what are you talking about, good pitchers can tell guys what's coming and they'll still be good If they significantly outclass the level, sure. But nobody outclasses MLB to that degree.
Seriously it was 2013 and you can still find pitchers for basically free who put up 2.04 FIP just because you noticed they were tipping their pitches and nobody else did.
Do you even consider the possibility of letting one of them go if the cap hit is too high? In the abstract I want to at least consider it, but I just can't accept the idea of losing either.