CHICAGO — Barring a baseball miracle, the Yankees won’t see the 2014 Cubs beyond Wednesday. But the Yankees might see more of the current Cubs in other places before 2014 concludes. Maybe even in their own clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.
Masahiro Tanaka is no longer undefeated in Major League Baseball, and Jason Hammel deserves a healthy share of the credit. The 31-year-old right-hander, an impending free agent with extensive American League East experience, pitched the Cubs to a 6-1 victory over Tanaka and the Yankees Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, dropping the rookie sensation Tanaka’s record to 6-1 and raising his own trade profile in the process.
“I could care less,” Hammel said, in response to a question about his future. “I’m wearing blue pinstripes right now. I’m excited to be here. I don’t think about that stuff. I’ve been around long enough to where it’s part of the game. I want to be here. I want to pitch here. I want to win here. For right now, that’s all that matters to me.”
In a steady rain with intermittent lightning, Tanaka allowed a career-worst four runs, three of them earned, over six innings. Nevertheless, he remains the Yankees’ most important pitcher, especially with three of his original starting rotation mates — Ivan Nova (right elbow), Michael Pineda (right shoulder blade) and CC Sabathia (right knee) — gone to the disabled list for extended stays.
It appears quite likely the Yankees will hit the trade market in an attempt to upgrade their starting rotation, and at this early juncture, there’s no team more likely to reside among the sellers than the Cubs (16-27), who own baseball’s worst record even after Tuesday’s win.
In this brief visit to the Friendly Confines, the Yankees will have faced two pitchers who should be available. With Hammel’s impressive outing (5 ²/₃ innings, one run, four hits, one walk, and six strikeouts) in the books, as he recovered after leadoff batter Brett Gardner’s comebacker nailed him in the pitching hand, Jeff Samardzija gets his opportunity Wednesday afternoon.
“It doesn’t hold any water whatsoever,” Samardzija said Tuesday of facing a possible upcoming employer. “They’re watching in every game we pitch anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s against their team or somebody else. You go out and do what you’re supposed to do to the best of your ability.”
The Yankees would execute the right trade immediately if the opportunity presented itself, but at this milepost of the season, even a terrible club like the Cubs is not yet ready to wave the white flag and sell off pieces. The Cubs’ brain trust, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer, missed this game as the two men were out scouting in preparation for the upcoming amateur draft, when the team will draft fourth overall. The big-picture view dominates this cursed franchise.
There could be plenty of other pitchers available via trade, as The Post detailed in its Tuesday editions. However, the most intriguing option, the Phillies’ Cliff Lee, went on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday night with a left elbow strain. An unhealthy Lee could dramatically impact the trade market.
Behind Lee, whom the Yankees have desired for about five years now, Samardzija might be the most attractive option. The 29-year-old can’t become a free agent until after the 2015 season and has put up a 1.62 ERA in his first nine starts. He has recorded zero victories thanks to terrible run support, the perfect example of why one shouldn’t pay attention to pitchers’ wins.
Samardzija said he finds it increasingly easy to deal with the outside noise of trade possibilities.
“When you get asked about it the 15th or 16th time, it usually becomes just another question. So it doesn’t really bother me too much,” the right-hander explained. “… So I just look forward to going out there and getting the ball every fifth day. It just so happens it’s against a great team and a great organization like the Yankees. I look forward to having a good day.”
Because Samardzija is under team control through next year, he’ll require a haul of prospects to acquire him, and the Yankees might not be able to compete in that arena even as their farm system has enjoyed a rebound year.
Hammel, with a lesser pedigree and a shorter contract — he’s making $6 million this season — should cost less. He now owns a 2.91 ERA in nine starts totaling 58 ²/₃ innings, and he pitched most recently for the Orioles (2012-13) and started his career with the Rays (2006-08). Based on what the Yankees witnessed Tuesday, Hammel can help them.
And based on how this season has gone so far? The Yankees probably will need the help.