Baltimore Orioles may be interested in trading for Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija?
By Bryan Rose
The Baltimore Orioles have seemingly had their name attached to any player available in free agency or on the trade block, which now includes Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija.
"The Cubs seem determined to deal pitcher Jeff Samardzija – a report on CSNChicago.com listed the chances at 99 percent – which automatically links him to the Orioles. There’s no way around it.Samardzija would be quite a catch, and not only because he’s a former All-American wide receiver at Notre Dame."
Chicago has been looking to deal Samardzija for months, though, recently intensified their campaign to do so after the two sides were unable to come to an agreement on a contract extension. The Cubs certainly don’t want to lose their ‘ace’ for nothing in free agency and the longer they wait to move him, the less of a return he’ll bring as teams aren’t going to throw elite prospects their way for a rental so if the Cubs are to move him, it will likely be soon.
A handful of other teams have shown interest in Samardzija, including the Arizona Diamondbacks who’ve engaged in multiple trade talks with Chicago over the span of months.
As far as a possible return, the Cubs have quite the asking price and MASNSports speculates it would take near Major League ready pitching from the O’s to snag Samardzija.