5 Signs Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein Is Overvaluing Matt Garza

When the Chicago Cubs attained pitcher Matt Garza from the Tampa Bay Rays, they gave up a boatload of top prospects.

With them looking to make a move for the right-hander, Cubs president Theo Epstein's asking price has been pretty high in order to get back in return what they had lost.

Are the Cubs asking for too much, though?

Quite possibly.

The Cubs have had reason to overvalue Garza, and they have handled the situation as smartly as many had assumed these guys would.

He Is the Best Pitcher Available

With the Oakland A's sending young left-hander Gio Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals, the Chicago Cubs' Matt Garza remains to be the best available pitcher on the market.

It will remain to be seen if the team will actually deal him, but they are rightfully asking for a lot in return, because teams that are desperate should be willing to do just that.

Is Garza worth a package of top prospects? Maybe not.

But a team that sees him as the last key to their needs may be looking to dump whatever they need to in order to get him.

He Isn't Guaranteed Success Elsewhere

Statistically, Matt Garza is coming off of his best season in his six-year career.

With the Tampa Bay Rays, he didn't see as much success pitching in the AL East for the vast amount of his appearances.

With them, he had a career ERA of 3.86 while striking out fewer than 150 batters in two of his three seasons.

This past year with the Cubs in the NL Central, Garza managed to strike out 197 batters in 198 innings while posting an ERA of 3.32—a career best.

If he were to return to the American League, would he return to his past, or would he continue to have the success that he did in Chicago?

Getting Anthony Rizzo for Andrew Cashner

The Chicago Cubs swung a deal with the San Diego Padres, sending young pitcher Andrew Cashner for top first base prospect Anthony Rizzo.

With the Cubs getting a promising player in return for a pitcher who is coming off of a serious injury, it is clear that the team is setting the bar high on what they plan on getting in return for Garza.

Cashner has a lot of promise, but in no way has he accomplished anything close to what Garza has. The Cubs only got one game out of him this past season, but he was pretty stellar.

If any team plans on prying away Garza, they will have to overwhelm the Cubs with something even great than a player like Rizzo.

Epstein Doesn't Feel the Need to Make a Deal

There is nothing people want more than what they can't have.

Such is the case with Matt Garza.

According to David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com:

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"Epstein has said that he would be willing to build a future rotation around an arm such as Garza. For this reason, Chicago seems to feel  little pressure to move their ace."

"

Teams will continue to show interest in the starter, and perhaps this is just a little strategy from Epstein and Co. to just increase the value of Garza.

It will remain to be seen if this is just a play to do just that, or if the Cubs really see him as the base for their future rotation.

He Appears to Be Talking to Everyone

Since Matt Garza's named popped up on the trade wire, several teams have been rumored to show interest. Teams include:

• New York Yankees (link)
• Boston Red Sox (link)
• Detroit Tigers (link)
• San Diego Padres (link)
• Toronto Blue Jays (link)
• Miami Marlins (link)

While some of these teams can be considered out of the running since they have made moves, it is apparent that Epstein is trying to grow the interest to create a possible bidding war.

When you have a player with value like Garza, why wouldn't you?

If two or three of these teams stay involved, the Cubs may just eventually get an offer they just couldn't stand to refuse.

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State Football.