Theo pulled the trigger over the weekend, didn’t he? I think I’ve read everything written about the Samardzija/Hammel trade, and I see that there are a lot of people who seem to be upset by this trade. My question is this: Why?
We traded a guy who made it clear he didn’t want to be here anymore (and had rejected numerous contract offers) and a guy we signed specifically to trade (and told him so when we signed him) for the two best prospects in Oakland’s system, and a guy who won ten 10 games for them last year. That sounds like a great trade to me.
The Cubs now almost certainly have the #1 farm system in all of baseball. Plus we have an all-star shortstop who is still only 24 years old (Castro), a near all-star 25-year-old first baseman, a bullpen full of young guys who throw 95-plus MPH, and two young excellent starting pitchers (Arietta, and last year’s all-star Travis Wood). Three or four of the young studs in the minors will be ready within a year. These are players who are considered franchise players. We have three or four of them coming up. The oldest one is 22. We may not have stud pitchers ready to come up, but in the last two years, the Cubs have drafted 40 pitchers. 40.
I’ll admit to occasionally wavering and having my doubts about Theo and Jed, but after this trade, I’m very excited. I know the rest of this year won’t be pretty, but that just means ANOTHER good draft position next year…and next year is when we’ll begin to see the results of this stockpiling on the field at Wrigley. I get why Cub fans are a little hesitant to be patient (how patient do we have to be, right?), but this approach clearly seems to be paying off. I’m drinking the koolaid right now.
