When the Cubs explored deals to strengthen their rotation in the summer of 2015, they figured the White Sox would never trade them Jeff Samardzija, even though it would only be a rental pitcher for a team trying to hang onto the National League’s second wild-card spot.
So now that the Cubs are World Series champions – with a young core positioned to be kings of the city for years to come – forget about them winning a bidding war for Chris Sale, a homegrown five-time All-Star who remains under club control through the 2019 season.
If that sounds obvious, well, this crosstown rivalry can still strike a nerve, even the week after Thanksgiving, fueling Twitter and talk radio. Within an overall story on Sale’s market, ESPN columnist Buster Olney mentioned the White Sox "have told the Cubs they won’t deal with them."
It’s not personal between Cubs executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer and their counterparts – Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn – who have signaled the White Sox are open for business and building for the future after four sub-.500 seasons.
Whatever chain-of-command issues may exist on the South Side, it’s just business.
“Listen, I think both Theo and I have very good and very long relationships with Kenny and Rick,” Hoyer said Wednesday. “We actually talk to them on a fairly regular basis. I guess I would just say that I wouldn’t expect a deal to get done between the two teams.
“I think that they would always listen to a deal and think through the merits of it. But I don’t think I’m saying anything that’s unexpected.”
MLB
[SHOP CUBS: Get your World Series champions gear right here]
Hoyer spoke on a conference call after the Cubs signed outfielder Jon Jay to a one-year, $8 million deal, perhaps rounding out their group of hitters and allowing them to focus on adding pitching depth and maybe a young, controllable starter during next week’s winter meetings at National Harbor, Maryland.
But the Cubs aren’t going to waste their time dreaming about Sale in a different Chicago throwback uniform. (Never forget Cubs manager Joe Maddon trolling the White Sox after that Sale temper tantrum, saying how trade speculation “cuts at the fabric of what you’re attempting to do. No pun intended.”)
The Cubs experienced a similar dynamic around this year’s trade deadline, when they looked into acquiring outfielder Jay Bruce and catcher Jonathan Lucroy and got the sense the Reds and Brewers wouldn’t seriously consider trading homegrown All-Star players to the NL Central’s rising power.
“People talk about deals done in division and they’re very difficult to do,” Hoyer said. “People talk about deals done within different cities – you don’t see a lot of deals done between the Mets and the Yankees or Oakland and San Francisco. Deals within your own city are difficult to make, because you got a lot of writers covering the same things, and there’s a lot of scrutiny.
“Listen, I think they would always listen to the merits of a deal. They’re in the business of getting better. And they’re in the business of doing the best deal. But I don’t think anything that’s been written is the least bit surprising. I don’t expect a lot of deals done between the White Sox and Cubs. And I don’t think I’m really saying anything surprising when I say that.”