beckdawg
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Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel traded to Oakland Athletics for Addison Russell plus
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just because a guy came out like scherzer doesnt mean shark is a lock to be that. does it happen? yep. would i give up my stingray in a bet for it? nope.
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beckdawg
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What's your issue? I didn't say he was Scherzer. I just posted an article talking about the difference between them because it's relevant.
patg006
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And just to think the Cubs could have had both those guys in their rotation.
Sounds like there is a good chance none of them will be in the rotation by opening day now.
But at least they will have a below average 1B and some more prospects to :fap: over though.
beckdawg
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D-back have Corbin with possible damage to his UCL which typically leads to tommy john. They've shown interest in Shark previously. Towers may be fighting for his job soonish. At this point, I think it's pretty safe to assume Shark starts the season with the Cubs but wouldn't surprise me if the D-backs start taking an interest even well before the deadline though I'm not really sure what they have to offer if Bradley is off the table.
beckdawg
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Well that didn't take long...
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/17/levine-samardzija-will-be-scouted-by-diamondbacks-again/
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/17/levine-samardzija-will-be-scouted-by-diamondbacks-again/
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Bradley would be a heist for Samardzija. It's probably more likely they'd land a lesser guy who's close to the majors like Zeke Spruill (nice fastball, has a chance at plus control, two decent secondary pitches) or Andrew Chafin (lefty, above average fastball and slider, projects more as a solid late-inning guy), but either way, for a team that's supposed to contend, the D'Backs probably make the most sense out of anyone right now.
beckdawg
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Thing is I doubt the front office will move Shark for less than Bradley now. Why would they? They can run him out til midseason if they so choose and then try to get the best package they can. In this sort of situation the cubs have all the leverage if Shark is who the d-backs want. Also those two pitchers aren't very highly regarded. One's a 55 on the 20-80 scale for fangraphs ratings and the other is a 50. If the cubs were going to move Shark for those type of players they would have traded him at the winter meetings.
CSF77
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Archie Bradley is close to ready.
This is a deal that it would take 2 from each team to pull off. Like Shark and Soler for Bradley and Andrew Chafin
This is a deal that it would take 2 from each team to pull off. Like Shark and Soler for Bradley and Andrew Chafin
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Well, Samardzija is more valuable now then in July when a team is essentially getting a rental and won't get a comp pick if he bolts. Like I said, a team like the Diamondbacks who will be in the hunt for a Wild Card needs to fill this need now instead of waiting until the deadline when they could be out of it. Everyone is 0-0, they need to put themselves in the best opportunity to contend now, because it's going to be a murderer's row facing the Dodgers, Giants, etc.
And those two guys are a fair return for Samardzija. His present ability and expectations don't warrant a return like Bradley. Like I said, if the D'Backs are willing to include him, I'd trade him right now and not think twice about it. I feel like Garza and Samardzija are similar in what they'd fetch in a trade, and I was very pleased with what the Cubs got for Garza. If the Cubs landed a similar package, I'd be all-in.
CSF77
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Chris Owings would be interesting as a add in with Bradley. They have Didi Gregorius. But Owings is capable of being a solid, though unspectacular shortstop defensively. Concidering Castro, Baez and Alcantara are all error prone could solidify that position. This would make a Baez move to 2B and would open up Castro for trade.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp...tebook_id=69456350&vkey=notebook_chc&c_id=chc
LAS VEGAS -- Javier Baez used to prefer playing second base over shortstop. This week, he'll be back at second for the Cubs.
Baez took grounders at second again on Sunday, and expects to start a game there early this week. It won't be the first time Baez has played second -- he did so in high school.
"Then our shortstop went away, so I moved to short, and I didn't really like it, so I started playing center field, and then I came back to short," Baez said Sunday. "I used to like playing center field. I would do diving catches and stuff like that."
The Cubs top prospect, Baez will open the season at shortstop for Triple-A Iowa. But the Cubs want to have the infielder get some action at second to improve his versatility and give the team some options.
It hasn't been that tough for Baez to relearn the footwork needed at second.
"It's pretty much the same thing," he said.
beckdawg
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Strongly doubt the cubs would agree. The reports of who the cubs were talking about were 65 players on the 20-80 scale. The general thought was they wanted 2 60-70 guys but probably could only get 1. So, to trade for 2 50-55 guys would be a fairly major let down. If it were those two plus a 60-70 guy they might make the move.
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OAK just lost Parker to TJ. Kazmir scratched due to tighteness and Griffin expected to need surgery. Thats 3/5 of SP gone. Wonder if Theo could rape Beane
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I'm not saying it would just be those two guys. It's a stating point, I'm sure they'd add a PTBNL or some filler. You need to keep in perspective that Samardzija isn't an ace. He's a 3 with a 2 ceiling just like Garza. You can't expect an ace return for a guy that isn't an ace, unless that team is just terribly desperate.
beckdawg
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The two guys you mentioned are fillers not centerpieces. Whether or not the cubs can get more is an entirely different conversation but I see no reason the cubs would even entertain that sort of offer. The thing to remember is prospect attrition rate not to mention pitching prospect attrition rate. If you think Shark is a solid 3 that means to trade him you should expect 2 players who can be that if not more. Those two pitchers are a similar level to Neil Ramirez who was literally a throw in as part of the Garza trade.
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Has anyone ever pulled one over on him?
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My favorite teams
And did you see the haul Garza brought back? Edwards, Olt, Grimm, Ramirez... supposedly almost got Rougned Odor in place of Ramirez too (forgot where that rumor sprouted from after the trade).
beckdawg
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Matt Holliday for Clayton Mortensen, Shane Peterson and Brett Wallace was probably the worst in my memory Beane made.
CSF77
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He did pretty well with converting Josh Donaldson from a Cubs catching prospect into an all star 3B.
CSF77
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http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/22041/better-off-signing-not-trading-samardzija
MESA, Ariz. -- You might think the time to trade Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija has come.
Contending teams with previous interest in the right-hander are losing pitchers on a near-daily basis. The Atlanta Braves are scrambling, as are the Arizona Diamondbacks because of injuries to top starters. Both have talked with the Cubs in the past about Samardzija.
Then on the same day the Oakland Athletics scratched starter Scott Kazmir from his start against the Cubs, they announced Jarrod Parker would undergo surgery. And A.J. Griffin is hurt for them as well.
Pitchers are dropping like flies.
It means the Cubs could get a king's ransom for Samardzija right? Maybe.
But it also underscores how fragile starting pitching can be. Samardzija is a horse who just reached the 200-inning plateau for the first time in his career and hasn't spent any time on the disabled list. The urgency should be to sign him, not trade him.
The sides haven't had formative discussions on a long-term deal -- not even during talks to avoid arbitration -- in quite awhile because neither side will budge. But the Cubs can't afford to play hardball, not with their position player talent getting closer and closer to the big leagues. They need pitching. What they have on the mound in their system is looking better, but there's still a huge leap to be made.
Trading Samardzija still means replacing him in the coming years, and that will be expensive. The Cubs should dance with the devil they know because the one they know isn't all that bad. And he has proved to be healthy.
There are no guarantees in the health game when it comes to pitchers, but there are better bets than others, and Samardzija is probably as good a bet as you'll find. And if you think Samardzija is being unreasonable in his demands, remember, he isn't asking for Clayton Kershaw-type money.
Nor will he accept deals like Edwin Jackson's (four year, $52 million) or Matt Garza's (four years, $50 million with a fifth-year vesting option). Of those pitchers and Samardzija, who would you rather have on the mound for a contender? There's someone in between those examples -- Homer Bailey.
The Cincinnati Reds' 27-year-old righty just signed a six-year, $105 million deal. He's one year ahead of Samardzija as he would have been a free agent after 2014, but that's a small detail. The point is Homer Bailey is making $105 million.
Bailey is a fine pitcher with two no-hitters on his resume. His injury problems might be behind him (though he was scratched from a spring start last weekend) as he started 65 games over the past two seasons. But the Reds still rolled the dice. The Cubs need to do the same. Samardzija at 29 is only a couple years older than Bailey and that's easily offset by the fact that Bailey has thrown 853 career innings in the big leagues compared to Samardzija's 558.
Bailey's ERA last season (3.49 to 4.34) was better, but a lot of the other statistics over the past two years since Samardzija became a starter are comparable. And if you're a wins person, Bailey has never won more than 13, and he's playing for a playoff-caliber team right now. Even their salary structure is similar. Bailey made $5.35 million last season before signing his longer deal. Samardzija is making $5.34 million this season.
The point isn't to nitpick who's better -- Samardzija's career ERA is 4.19, Bailey's is 4.25. The point is there are enough similarities to use as a starting point for a contract. If Bailey got $105 million, can't Samardzija get $80 million or $90 million? It sounds crazy, but those are the going rates. Garza got $50 million and if he completes his contract without a disabled list stint all parties will be surprised. It's the opposite thought when it comes to Samardzija.
And this is worth repeating: If the Cubs don't spend now they will have to soon enough. There's no way they'll have enough within the system even if they do get a couple of good prospects back for Samardzija. And they all become injury risks. Samardzija checks so many boxes for the Cubs right now even if they overspend it will probably worth it.
He still hasn't had that dominant season from start to finish but neither has Bailey. In fact, it took him several years of starting and overcoming injuries to put together a solid year or two. Samardzija is in a similar position and hasn't been all that bad for a bad team.
"Sometimes there is going to be a natural gap where a player values himself for what he can do and the team has to factor in a little bit more what he has done," Cubs president Theo Epstein said this spring.
That might be true, but there are exceptions to the rule. And what Samardzija can do on a contending team has yet to be seen. Nothing has changed in the last 6-12 months even with the progression of Cubs hurlers on the farm. Roll the dice and sign Samardzija. He's going to get paid by someone.
MESA, Ariz. -- You might think the time to trade Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija has come.
Contending teams with previous interest in the right-hander are losing pitchers on a near-daily basis. The Atlanta Braves are scrambling, as are the Arizona Diamondbacks because of injuries to top starters. Both have talked with the Cubs in the past about Samardzija.
Then on the same day the Oakland Athletics scratched starter Scott Kazmir from his start against the Cubs, they announced Jarrod Parker would undergo surgery. And A.J. Griffin is hurt for them as well.
Pitchers are dropping like flies.
It means the Cubs could get a king's ransom for Samardzija right? Maybe.
But it also underscores how fragile starting pitching can be. Samardzija is a horse who just reached the 200-inning plateau for the first time in his career and hasn't spent any time on the disabled list. The urgency should be to sign him, not trade him.
The sides haven't had formative discussions on a long-term deal -- not even during talks to avoid arbitration -- in quite awhile because neither side will budge. But the Cubs can't afford to play hardball, not with their position player talent getting closer and closer to the big leagues. They need pitching. What they have on the mound in their system is looking better, but there's still a huge leap to be made.
Trading Samardzija still means replacing him in the coming years, and that will be expensive. The Cubs should dance with the devil they know because the one they know isn't all that bad. And he has proved to be healthy.
There are no guarantees in the health game when it comes to pitchers, but there are better bets than others, and Samardzija is probably as good a bet as you'll find. And if you think Samardzija is being unreasonable in his demands, remember, he isn't asking for Clayton Kershaw-type money.
Nor will he accept deals like Edwin Jackson's (four year, $52 million) or Matt Garza's (four years, $50 million with a fifth-year vesting option). Of those pitchers and Samardzija, who would you rather have on the mound for a contender? There's someone in between those examples -- Homer Bailey.
The Cincinnati Reds' 27-year-old righty just signed a six-year, $105 million deal. He's one year ahead of Samardzija as he would have been a free agent after 2014, but that's a small detail. The point is Homer Bailey is making $105 million.
Bailey is a fine pitcher with two no-hitters on his resume. His injury problems might be behind him (though he was scratched from a spring start last weekend) as he started 65 games over the past two seasons. But the Reds still rolled the dice. The Cubs need to do the same. Samardzija at 29 is only a couple years older than Bailey and that's easily offset by the fact that Bailey has thrown 853 career innings in the big leagues compared to Samardzija's 558.
Bailey's ERA last season (3.49 to 4.34) was better, but a lot of the other statistics over the past two years since Samardzija became a starter are comparable. And if you're a wins person, Bailey has never won more than 13, and he's playing for a playoff-caliber team right now. Even their salary structure is similar. Bailey made $5.35 million last season before signing his longer deal. Samardzija is making $5.34 million this season.
The point isn't to nitpick who's better -- Samardzija's career ERA is 4.19, Bailey's is 4.25. The point is there are enough similarities to use as a starting point for a contract. If Bailey got $105 million, can't Samardzija get $80 million or $90 million? It sounds crazy, but those are the going rates. Garza got $50 million and if he completes his contract without a disabled list stint all parties will be surprised. It's the opposite thought when it comes to Samardzija.
And this is worth repeating: If the Cubs don't spend now they will have to soon enough. There's no way they'll have enough within the system even if they do get a couple of good prospects back for Samardzija. And they all become injury risks. Samardzija checks so many boxes for the Cubs right now even if they overspend it will probably worth it.
He still hasn't had that dominant season from start to finish but neither has Bailey. In fact, it took him several years of starting and overcoming injuries to put together a solid year or two. Samardzija is in a similar position and hasn't been all that bad for a bad team.
"Sometimes there is going to be a natural gap where a player values himself for what he can do and the team has to factor in a little bit more what he has done," Cubs president Theo Epstein said this spring.
That might be true, but there are exceptions to the rule. And what Samardzija can do on a contending team has yet to be seen. Nothing has changed in the last 6-12 months even with the progression of Cubs hurlers on the farm. Roll the dice and sign Samardzija. He's going to get paid by someone.