It is hard to imagine that any major league team would want to trade their Number One and Number Two starting pitchers. Pitching is such a scarcity in baseball. But the consensus is that is exactly what the Cubs will do before the July trade deadline.
Jeff Samardzija has pitched his way out of town. He has yet to get any run support, but he is making headlines for his stellar quality starts so far this season. In 10 starts, he is 0-4, 1.46 ERA, 1.088 WHIP.
In 9 starts, Jason Hammel has a record of 5-2, 2.91 ERA, and fantastic 0.903 WHIP.
Hammel is on a one year deal so he knew he was pitching for a big contract next season. Samardzija has refused to sign an extension with the Cubs because the Cubs have not shown him any signs of building a winner; he has been ticked off that every season 40 percent of the rotation has been dealt. He wants to be traded to a winning team.
After the Yankees series, most people believe either Hammel or Samardzija would be in NY pinstripes by mid-Summer.
The question is only what will be the asking price by Epstein and Hoyer. Belief: a lot.
But it also begs the question, if you receive five or six prospects in return for Samardzija and Hammel, are any of those prospects going to be a proven #1 or #2 major league pitcher? And if so, why would the trading partner give up those extremely valuable (and cheap - - - under 6 years of team control) for two costly veteran starters?
