Chad Fox is no longer in the running for a bullpen spot after being told he’ll start the season at AAA Iowa, so it’s down to a competition between Jeff Samardzija, Chad Gaudin, Angel Guzman and David Patton for the two remaining spots.
The team gave a pretty huge clue as to how things are going to go down.
General manager Jim Hendry met with manager Lou Piniella and staff this morning. “He told me there would be no waivers,” Piniella said. “There’ll either be a trade, or be an option – anything but waivers.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
That means Samardzija is almost certainly out because he’s the only one of the four who can be freely optioned back to Iowa.
Further, the confidence Hendry has that there will not be a waiver means whatever prospective trades that might be made are already lined up. The statement also means that at least one trade is going to go down.
I’m no prognosticator, and I don’t want to overstate it, but there’s a 150% chance that the trade will be Angel Guzman straight up for Jake Peavy.