Lukewarm Stove: Samardzija, Norris, Gregg, Young, Villanueva, DeJesus, More

Jul 30, 2013

stove The first of many during the BN Blogathon? Probably. Depends on how granular things become. Not tired yet, obviously, as I’m still using words like “granular.”

Dale Sveum reiterated to the media that he doesn’t see Jeff Samardzija being dealt today or tomorrow. “This is me speaking, but I would think it’s very, very far-fetched to think that you have a guy under control for that long and possibly a No. 1 guy to do anything with him,” Sveum said, per Carrie Muskat. “Those are things that pop up and somebody will say, sure you’ll listen. But are you going to want to trade half your team [to get Samardzija]?” That’s pretty much exactly my reaction, too. Listen? Sure. Willing to trade? Sure. But will a team step up with the kind of ridiculous package it would take? Nah.

For his part, Samardzija said that trading him “wouldn’t be a good move,” which is pretty fair to say, even if he wasn’t the player involved. You can make this all go away by signing a team-friendly extension, Jeff … I kid. But, I mean, do go ahead and sign a reasonable extension after the season. That would be swell.

Bud Norris has been scratched from his start today for the Astros, so, like Jake Peavy, you can expect him to be traded by tomorrow. Jeff Passan connects Norris to the Pirates and big-time prospect Tyler Glasnow. I imagine there will still be some shopping done today, and maybe tomorrow as well. Norris offers a couple years of control, but he’s not exactly a race-changing pitcher. Still, the Pirates need another arm, and Norris is one of the better ones available. The question is: if they pull the trigger on a deal for Norris, expending prospects (good ones) in the process, will they still be willing to part with quality prospects for someone like, say, Nate Schierholtz?

Speaking of Peavy, Ken Rosenthal says the Cardinals aren’t currently discussing him, and Bob Nightengale says the Diamondbacks aren’t either. The Feldman and Garza trades look better by the hour.

Reading this Cubs.com piece on Kevin Gregg and the Trade Deadline, I get the sense that he really wouldn’t mind being traded to a contender. He also notes that he’d consider coming back to the Cubs next year, after being traded this year. Although that rarely happens, when the guy at issue is an older reliever who won’t command serious dollars (or even interest, necessarily), it’s plausible. If Gregg really likes the Cubs, and they like what he’s done to his game, I could see him coming back next year after he gets a shot at a playoff race this year. He’ll have to be traded first, though, and we aren’t hearing too much yet, other than a little interest from the Rockies.

There’s an expectation out there that Michael Young will be traded, but I have a hard time getting too excited about, or interested in, that one. Maybe when we learn where he’s going there will be obvious Cubs-related implications. But, unless he competes with Cody Ransom in some teams’ minds (haven’t heard anything like that), or unless the Cubs are shopping Luis Valbuena (again, haven’t heard anything like that), I don’t see much here.

In Jon Heyman’s overnight piece about Jeff Samardzija, he noted that the Cubs are “talking to teams” about Nate Schierholtz, David DeJesus, Dioner Navarro, Kevin Gregg and Carlos Villanueva. Just spitballing with obvious names, or does he intend to say these are the guys the Cubs are shopping? None would be shocking, though the prevailing expectation (by which I suppose I mean my own) right now is that Villanueva will stay (can’t see a team wanting him so much that they offer up enough for the Cubs to let him go (not because he’s so great, but because he offers nice swing value on a reasonable contract for 2014)), and that at least one of Schierholtz and DeJesus will stay. Maybe both.

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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