Although it should come as no surprise – hell, it wouldn’t have been a total surprise back in April – Buster Olney reports that the Chicago Cubs are officially in sell mode. That, according to “rival talent evaluators” who say the Cubs are communicating that they are “open for business.”
The Cubs will listen to offers on any player, as is this front office’s (wise) policy. Specifically, Olney lists Matt Garza, Scott Feldman, Kevin Gregg, James Russell, Alfonso Soriano, David DeJesus (after he gets back from injury), and Nate Schierholtz as pieces the Cubs have that could interest other teams.
Although it’s good to know your place in the market – there is no consternation for the Cubs about whether to buy or sell – I wouldn’t expect a huge number of moves until we get into July. It’s an appealing argument that you’d get better value for a Scott Feldman now than in July because he’d offer his new team more starts this year before reaching free agency. But that argument is countered by the fact that, unlike the Cubs, many teams don’t yet know if they are buying or selling. That restricts the possible market for a Scott Feldman, and it would behoove the Cubs to wait until the market more fully develops (and teams get a little more desperate).
That said, if a team came along with an over-the-top offer today for one of the Cubs’ sellable pieces, it’s not like they’ll say no. The Cubs are open for business. It’s useful for Buster Olney’s sources to confirm it, but we’ve known it to be true for some time now.