Chicago Cubs Rumors: Team has sights set on veteran Cole Hamels

Chicago Cubs Rumors: Steady, not stellar – that’s what we need

Quit thinking we need an ace. We don’t. Period.

You want to decimate this team’s big league positional depth? What if, God forbid, Kris Bryant misses the rest of the season with his shoulder issue? Say that happens after we trade Ian Happ and Addison Russell, along with our top prospects to New York. You want to trot out David Bote and Tommy La Stella every day on the left side?

Sure, we’d have Ben Zobrist and Javier Baez in the mix as well, but I’ll stick with Happ filling in for Bryant and going low on someone like Cole Hamels instead, thank you very much. According to Joel Sherman, the Cubs are likely to pick up only around $4 million left on Hamels’ deal if a trade is completed. With $14 million left until they break the luxury tax threshold, this leaves plenty of wiggle room for any more potential deadline deals.

Four million dollars and secondary prospects? Yes, please.

Chicago doesn’t need a world-beater right now. At some point, you have to have the guys on the roster play up to expectations. Jose Quintana and Kyle Hendricks – namely the latter – need to pitch more effectively. If they don’t, you needn’t worry about how the postseason rotation lines up, because it could very well cost them the division.

Hamels gives you a low-cost, quality-assured insurance policy that just might surprise you in ways you wouldn’t think possible with a quick glance at the numbers.