About a quarter of the season is over, and the Cubs are mired in last place.
Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel have led the staff in quality starts.
With the exploding rash of Tommy John injuries around the league, the value of Samardzija and Hammel will be never higher than it is today.
Don't wait for the July trade deadline.
Don't even wait to June 15th.
If Samardzija and Hammel are not going to be cornerstone pieces for the 2016-2017 Cubs, then you have to trade them now. Samardzija has all but said "trade me," since he will not sign an extension and he is following Matt Garza's advice of "pitch yourself out of town." Hammel was signed specifically to play and trade this season.
The Cubs could probably get at least two major league ready starting pitchers each for Samardzija and Hammel. That is four new starting pitchers for 2015 rotation. Considering the Cubs current AAA team does not have a major league ready stopper, this is the only way to quickly stock the organization with quality arms (the major deficiency of the team).
The argument that if a team waits to the deadline, there will be more interest and competition for players, the more prospects a team will get in return. As we have seen the past few years, teams are more likely to protect their top prospects than trade them for a rent-a-player veteran pitcher. Samardzija is still under club control which makes him more valuable than Hammel. One would believe that if either is traded to a contender, they would sign an extension.
But will the front office be bold enough to make a trade market for their top two starters now?
Probably not.
