Cubs: 3 free agents Chicago should avoid

When he was in Seattle, Paxton toiled in obscurity despite some extremely impressive numbers. Upon his trade to the Yankees, Paxton and his explosive fastball were expected to give New York another frontline starter as they chased ring No. 28. Unfortunately, Paxton’s injury problems cropped up again, and poor numbers paired with a decline in fastball velocity that couldn’t have come at a worse time. There will be plenty of teams interested in rehabilitating him, but the Cubs should stay far away given how they need some consistency in that rotation considering Jon Lester and Jose Quintana’s expected departures.

Paxton has yet to start 30 games in a season in his career, and anyone expecting these injury problems to magically go away with age isn’t being reasonable. Paxton would be a gamble that could take the Cubs rotation to the next level if everything breaks in his favor, but the potential for disaster is so great given his declining health and heater that the Cubs need to leave the Big Maple rehab project to a team with enough rotation depth to weather the storm if he doesn’t pan out.