The winter meetings are nearing the end of their second day, and there has been a ton of news regarding the Chicago baseball teams. So far each team as acquired 2 key players, and neither seems to be letting up, as they're both still rumored to be feeling out other moves as well.
The White Sox have made the biggest splash so far. They traded away Josh Phegley and Marcus Semien (among other lesser prospects Chris Bassitt and Rangel Ravelo) to get Jeff Samardzija (and minor league pitcher Michael Ynoa). That is by far the biggest move either team has made. Samardzija was a good first half pitcher for the Cubs, and was traded along with Jason Hammel in what brought the Cubs a king's ransom. It's amazing then that the White Sox were able to get him for. White Sox fans will love Samardzija during the first half of the season. Unfortunately he's always dropped off after the first half of the season, but we'll see, a new season can bring new results. Hopefully the White Sox are smart and slot him into the 3 spot, with Quintana between him and Sale. Samardzija and Sale are very similar, and putting similar pitchers back to back in a rotation isn't always the best thing, no matter how good each is.
The other move the White Sox made was signing David Robertson. The deal is a bit steep for a relief pitcher, but Robertson is a proven back of the bullpen pitcher. Sure, bullpen pitchers do tend to be more volatile than anyone else on the field, but Robertson has as good of a track record as you're going to get out of a bullpen pitcher that's still not yet 30. The White Sox had some serious issues with the back of their bullpen last season, and Robertson should help out a lot back there. His numbers have fallen a bit over the last few years, but they're still VERY good. The deal, by the way, is a 4 year, $46 million deal.
The first Cubs move was signing Jason Hammel. Hammel was excellent for the Cubs last year, with an ERA under 3 before being part of the Samardzija trade. Well, that trade looks even better now, since the Cubs have Hammel back. Hammel was said to have fallen off after the trade, and he did have a bad July, but July was his only bad month last year. By month it was April 2.08, May 3.44, June 3.45, July 7.83, August 2.86, September/Oct 2.20. I'll take 5 very good months out of a #3 or further down guy with 1 bad month. The deal is also very reasonable 2 years and $18 million.
The second move the Cubs made is another pretty big one, trading for catcher Miguel Montero from the Diamondbacks. Most likely, Wellington Castillo will be traded and Montero will be the main catcher, with the Cubs supposedly also courting David Ross as a backup. Anyway, the trade that was made was Montero for Jefferson Mejia and Zack Godley. Both are A level pitchers. Mejia is a high upside, high bust potential type of guy. He's huge and has a good fastball, but according to most reports, he doesn't have great control or secondary stuff. However, those are things that can be taught, so we'll have to wait and see. As for Godley, he's a minor league relief pitcher who probably doesn't have great upside, but does have the potential to make the bigs and be a solid player. It was a risk very much worth taking for the Cubs, as Montero is everything that Castillo is with the bat, if not a bit better, and he's one of the best at framing pitches in baseball, which was a major weakness for Castillo.
Now, some of the most exciting news so far has surrounded Jon Lester. The former Red Sox and Athletics pitcher will soon be making his decision on where to go next season. The 3 teams seen as having the best shot at him are the Cubs, Red Sox, and Giants. Lester will likely be making his decision any time in the next 24 or so hours, as soon as within seconds. It will be interesting to see what kind of contract he gets, as he is going to be 31 next season, and there are reports that teams are going as far as 7 seasons in their offers. Once that domino falls, things could get even more chaotic, and it will be a lot of fun to watch. The best thing about if the Cubs do wind up with Lester is that they get him, and they don't have to give up a 2nd round pick, or lose more players in a trade. Max Scherzer and David Price would both cost the Cubs players. Cole Hamels, Jordan Zimmerman, and David Price would all cost the Cubs a pretty number of prospects in a trade. Lester is the only #1 type of guy that wouldn't cost the Cubs any of that.
Things have certainly been interesting already, and will only be getting more interesting. I wanted to wait until after the Lester announcement, but he's taking longer than I expected (he has every right to take as long as he wants), and there has already been so much that has happened. On paper, both teams look significantly better than they did last year already, and it's going to be fun to see even what happens after the Lester drama is over.
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