TC in Mississippi
CCS Staff
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No..
not if your hoping Samardzija matches the team win totals from that group last year .. so, no he wouldn't be an improvement from them unless he has a career year in wins..
Which is at 11 now
Samardzija to me is no better then Hammel, so they would once again be relying on Lester and Arrieta and hoping for the best with the others...
Austin Jackson could be their last option they could fall back on if all other choices fall through. ....
Again as i said before... If their serious about taking it to the next level in 2016, then they cant be thinking cheaper players
Price, Greinke, or Cueto should be their top choices if those guys are interested in coming to Chicago
Jackson probably is a last resort. He's likely not going to get the years he'd like because most teams looking at him see him as a a 4th OF. If they run out of options though he's not a terrible choice. He's a far better defender than Fowler but you lose the leadoff option from that position. Still Steamer projects Fowler to be a 1.7 fWAR player and Jackson to be a 1.4 fWAr player. There are some fit issues but, again, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
As far as your "cheap" angle goes this FO is trying to balance short term and long term. Their plan is to not build a single team to win a WS as other teams, and frankly other Cubs regimes have done, but instead try to build a team that can get to the playoffs almost every year. Their theory is based on the randomness of the playoffs and the fact that sometimes, no matter how you plan, baseball is going to baseball. I'm with that plan and if a huge pitching salary is going to hurt them in 3 years then I don't love that move. If they determine it won't so be it, I'd like to have Greinke or Price, but if they determine it will and they could trade for Shelby Miller and sign Samardzija then that's a hell of a staff. You compare Shark to Hammel but in a horrific year Samardzija still best Hammel in fWAR 2.7 to 2.4. the year before he was a fWAR of 4.1 which is a solid #3 starter. Again a guy like Miller and Shark plus the guys they have (I'd probably rather keep Hendricks than Hammel but that may not be up to them depending on who they trade with/for) makes for one of the best rotations in the NL. Don't look at W totals, those will lead you astray.