Why: The Yankees like Samardzija. General manager Brian Cashman’s special assistant, Jim Hendry, was the Cubs’ GM when he convinced Samardzija to pick baseball over football out of Notre Dame in 2006. Samardzija’s 4.58 ERA through 18 starts doesn't look great, but consider he also has a 3.44 FIP and had a 3.81 ERA last year. Also, his 9.7 K/9 is on track to be the best mark of his career and he's walked just 1.1 batters per nine innings — a league low. Adding Samardzija would be with the long view in mind, as he’s signed through 2021, and the Yankees could watch Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka leave through free agency at year’s end.
MLB trade rumors: 5 Yankees targets after Cubs trade for Jose Quintana
