Cubs’ asset or trade bait?
Jeff Samardzija in limbo,
“Anyone looking at our situation knows what it is.”
Theo Epstein, Cubs president, on trading or keeping Jeff Samardzija
The Chicago Cubs’ stunning two-story, 7,500square-foot weight room at their new spring training facility is filled with championship banners hanging from the rafters, as if they’re the Bulls or Blackhawks playing at the United Center.
Quite an impressive showing, until you take a closer look.
There’s nothing wrong with celebrating your history, but your pride takes a beating when relegated to showing off ancient history. You look at the banners, and we’re reminded they were a powerhouse from 1876 to 1889, winning six National League pennants. They dominated again from 1906 to 1910, winning two World Series and four pennants.
These days? Well, it has been 106 years and counting since they last won the World Series, 69 years since a pennant and 11 years since they won a playoff game. Better keep counting. The Cubs know they will stink again this year and probably next. But 2016? That, the Cubs vow, is the year everything changes.
Legitimate contention beckons then for a team that has finished fifth for four consecutive seasons.
“It’s definitely a different mentality than when I first came up,” says Cubs ace Jeff Samardzija, remembering his 2008 rookie season when they won the division. “But now you see the young talent, and you get excited.
“With my love for the city and after everything we’ve gone through, it’d be real nice to see this thing all the way through.
“You don’t want to put in all that elbow grease and not get the reward at the end, right?”
The paradox is that for the Cubs to be a contender in 2016, Samardzija, the homegrown kid and former Notre Dame football star, might have to be sacrificed.
Samardzija, 29, happens to be their best trade chip, capable of returning multiple players who can help the Cubs complete their journey to a new frontier.
The Cubs have had contract talks with Samardzija, who is two seasons from free agency, but they’ve gone nowhere. They’ve had trade talks, but the Cubs were never tempted. Now that the season is about to start, Samardzija would like to put any contract talks on hold.
“The season is for playing,” Samardzija told USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t want to cloud goals of our team and myself with negotiations. Let me handle business on the field. I just want to play ball.”
Yet while any business talks might be put on hold, it’s not about to stop the Cubs from soliciting offers to power-boost their rebuilding plan.
“We like him. It’s not like a guy we’re trying to run out of town,” Cubs President Theo Epstein said. “We’re still holding out hope that there will be a way we can keep him long term.
“But I think anyone looking at our situation knows what it is. They’ve seen what we’ve done the last couple of years. We’ll do what makes sense.”
It’s why Alfonso Soriano is playing left field for the New York Yankees and Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster were dealt to a contending Texas Rangers team the last two seasons.
And it’s why Samardzija could pitch elsewhere this summer.
The bizarre piece of the Samardzija drama is that the better he pitches the more likely he is to go. The worse he pitches the better chance he stays. The Cubs badly need his trade value to be high for the return they want.
“It’s kind of hard for me to grasp that concept,” Samardzija says. “It’s out of my hands, but it’s tough. You always hope your value to them is more important than a third or fourth prospect that gets thrown into the mix.
“What is the value of that value, if that makes sense?” Perfectly. The Cubs, with or without Samardzija, are convinced their 2016 blueprint will work.
They think their prized prospects, led by shortstop Javier Baez and third baseman Kris Bryant, will become stars.
The plan is for Baez to play second base at Class AAA (Des Moines) Iowa, enabling the Cubs to keep Starlin Castro at shortstop, with perhaps a June arrival for Baez.
Bryant did everything last year but win a Grammy. He was Baseball America’s collegiate player of the year at the University of San Diego, selected No. 2 in the draft, helped Daytona win the Class A Florida State League title and was the Arizona Fall League MVP. He could be in the big leagues by summer 2015.
The Cubs hope young outfielders Albert Almora and Jorge Soler arrive about the same time they negotiate a new local TV deal. If the Los Angeles Dodgers can get $8.6 billion, the Cubs can cash in, too.
Hard to fathom, but the Cubs project to have an $85 million opening-day payroll, their lowest since 2003 and about $60 million less than four years ago, and will be the lowest in the NL Central.
“I’m not complaining about the money,” says Epstein, who won two World Series championships as GM of the Boston Red Sox. “It’s rare to have an owner (Tom Ricketts) that has totally bought in and is totally patient and excited to build from the ground up.”
The Cubs aren’t going to win for another two years, so it made no sense to go after Robinson Cano, Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder the last few seasons.
Yet a few extra bucks might have enabled them to be more aggressive in the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes this offseason or in the pursuit of free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo.
In two years, maybe they’ll have the money to compete on the free agent landscape — assuming marquee players hit free agency again.
“Obviously, the results at the big-league level are frustrating,” Epstein says. “But we know we’re building something that has a chance to be special and to last.
“Everybody around here feels like something special is developing and wants to be a part of it.”
Yeah, even the guy most likely to be traded.