Jon Morosi writes, once again, about the possibilities of the Blue Jays trading for Jeff Samardzija, telling us that Jays pro scouting director Perry Minasian was at Wrigley Field to watch Samarzija's start last night (I do sometimes wonder about the value of having a scout watching a guy pitch in person, in this day and age. All games are on TV. You can get a good feel for the break of pitches. You can get a ton of information off MLB GameDay and Brooks Baseball. Is there a lot more to be gained by having a scout sitting in the stands, other than it gets Morosi to speculate. But I digress).
Morosi also tells us:
Furthermore, the Cubs have evaluated the Jays' farm system, and there are strong indications they would trade Samardzija to Toronto if the Jays offered Triple-A right-hander Aaron Sanchez, Double-A left-hander Daniel Norris, and Class-A center fielder Dalton Pompey.
Yeah, if I was the Cubs I'd gladly trade Jeff for those 3 players. I know I tend to overvalue our prospects but, from the Jays side, that price is too steep for me.
Morosi goes on to say that the Jays would prefer David Price or Cole Hamels to Samardzija, figuring that Samadzija might not fare as well in the AL East (who would?) and that Price and Hamels have a longer history of success. I think I'd rather have Price, if the cost was equal.
Morosi does make a mistake in the column, saying that we received J.A. Happ from the Phillies in the Halladay trade. No Jon, we got him from the Astros. But it is an understandable mistake.
We have a month to go before the trade deadline and, as long as the Jays don't fall out of the race, there will be a fair bit of pressure on Alex Anthopoulos to made a deal, especially if J.A. Happ continues to look terrible.