BOSTON – Its not yet June and thanks to the advent of the two wild card spots in each league, only two of 30 teams can make the argument to their fans that theyre out of the playoff hunt. With apologies to the Arizona Diamondbacks, a club that made offseason moves with the intention of contending and will now give new hire Tony La Russa time to assess the damage of a disastrous start, the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs have dropped far enough in the standings to consider the postseason unachievable. The Cubs have a prized piece at the front of their starting rotation. He is 29-year-old Jeff Samardzija, the ace of a bad baseball team whos expected to top the wish list of teams looking to bolster their pitching staffs ahead of the important games of August and September. Dont let the numbers fool you. Samardzija is good. The Cubs are not good. He is winless in nine starts this season despite posting a big league-best 1.62 ERA. In fact, Samardzijas winless skid stretches to 16 if you go back to last year. Chicago, with its impotent offence, doesnt score him any runs. An even crueler fate: Samardzija pitched seven scoreless innings against the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, departing with a 2-0 lead, only to watch his closer and defence implode in the ninth. The Cubs lost in extra innings. Word around the Blue Jays is if the club is in contention approaching the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, ownership would be willing to loosen the purse strings to acquire additional help. Toronto needs help in its starting rotation with two spots in perpetual question. J.A. Happ is filling one at the moment. Somebody will fill the other come Saturday. Its expected to be Liam Hendriks, a former Minnesota Twin whos off to a strong start at Triple-A Buffalo. Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro was a Cub last year and caught Samardzija 10 times. "Hes really good," said Navarro. "I think hes one of those guys the numbers last year didnt show what hes capable of. Hes a horse. He wants the ball. He wants to win. Hes still got that football mentality. Hes that type of player." Samardzija features a sinking fastball, which he pumps up at 91 miles per hour at the low end, 97 at the high end. Hell spike a splitter; he throws a backdoor slider and a cut fastball. "Hes got everything, man," said Navarro. "Hes got it." Should Samardzija land in the American League East, a real possibility considering the interest hell likely draw not just from the Blue Jays but also the injury-riddled Yankees and maybe others, hell quickly find himself in a home run-friendly division with home run-friendly parks and lineups that stretch deep. Its not the National League Central. Navarro doesnt think he would have a problem adjusting. "I believe so," said Navarro. "I think hes a strikeout pitcher. Hes a swing and miss type of guy. I believe that hes got what it takes. I think the most important thing that hes got is hes a really competitive guy and he wants to win. Obviously hes going to have to make some adjustments coming from the NL Central to the American League East but I think hes going to be a huge asset if we get the opportunity to get him." The Cubs reported asking price for Samardzija in the offseason involved both top pitching prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman. Needless to say that would be a steep price to pay. It may, however, be the going rate. With so many teams jumbled around the .500 mark and no sign of that changing in the foreseeable future, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer should have a number of intriguing offers to peruse. If Cliff Lees elbow problem is anything serious for the Phillies, another potential chip comes off the market and Samardzijas price goes up further. How about that? The perpetually weak Cubs will be dealing from a position of strength. CHECK OUT THE PODCAST Episode 5 of The Baseball Podcast, #TBP, is available online. TSN 1050 contributors Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com and I discuss Fenway Park, the Blue Jays red hot offence, the persistent issues with the back end of the starting rotation, Jose Reyes defence and whether the media is too easy on general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Click here to listen. Cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. Cheap Falcons Jerseys Authentic . "I had a pretty good year," the soft-spoken Granberg told TSN.ca with a grin from the teams annual rookie tournament in London. A fourth-round selection in 2010, Granberg is worth keeping an eye on with NHL training camps rolling around in less than a week. The six-foot-two, 200-pound defender may not possess the wow-inspiring theatrics of fellow prospect Morgan Rielly, but nonetheless has a chance to contribute with the Leafs when all is said and done this season. http://www.cheapfalconsjerseyselite.com/. -- Chris Jones and Louisville have done a tremendous job protecting the basketball this season and thats led to easy victories. Cheap Falcons Jerseys . -- Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus drove in two runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Saturday. Cheap Falcons Jerseys China . And it showed Thursday night. The Canadiens, playing in their second game in as many days, however, got a good performance in the end from their backup goaltender as he filled in for an injured Olympic gold medallist .If you were still playing in the NHL today, what team would you want to play for?Being from Toronto I would want to play for the Maple Leafs. Its like being on Broadway, everything you do matters. Id want to be good though! I couldnt play here if I wasnt very good. #83217388 / gettyimages.com (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)When did the nickname Cujo start? And who came up with it?I was in St. Louis and it started the very first year of my career. A guy by the name of Robert Dirk couldnt really pronounce my name so he shortened it to Cujo, which is the first two letters of both names.Have you ever read the 1981 horror novel Cujo by Stephen King, or seen the movie?Ive seen the movie, but Im sure the book is better. Its awesome! Its a great nickname for me and I ran with it. Kids of all ages loved it and they had to have their mask painted like Cujo. Im very fortunate that I had a great nickname, and still do.Heres a close-up of the famous Cujo mask: #83217370 / gettyimages.com (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)You lost your temper a few times in the heat of battle, what do you think was the moment in your career where you were the most upset?Visibly you saw some of them, and theyre in the Sportcentre Top 10 highlights. Its a game of emotion, I tell my kids that. I tell my boys, listen, its okay to celebrate and its okay to be mad at a call, just dont take it to the extreme. Certainly its a game of emotion, and if you play with passion thats a good thing. Who is your closest hockey friend from your career?Oh, thats hard! I cant pick just one of them. Certainly with the phones these days and Instagram etc. its easy to follow them and their lives through pictures or whatever it is. Its nice to keep in touch with guys that are still playing and continuing their career. I met a lot of great people. The best men that I have ever met have been through hockey.Hockey players can be known for locker room fun and games, what is the best prank youve ever witnessed?There are a lot of different things. We used to fly commercial in my first ten years probably, and wed be on a commercial flight, played the night before, and everybody would be sleeping before the plane took off. Guys would get shaving cream out from the trainers and pile as much shaving cream in a circle on top of a guy sleeping, right on top of their head. And the people who just bought their tickets and happened to be on our flight would be laughing and dying. Guys would hang things from their lips, so theyd be pretty much a Christmas tree and wake up with all this foam all over their head. They were fun pranks. #53122202 / geettyimages.ddddddddddddcom (Joseph and Martin Brodeur lounging in Team Canada van. Photo by Michael Desjardins/ Getty Images)Is there a player who always tried to mess with you personally? Maybe a teammate during practice shooting extra shots at you when you werent ready?Theres always a guy on each team, and playing for nineteen years… yknow what, it was usually the tough guys! It was always the tough guys that were the pranksters on the team. Maybe they didnt play enough and they had too much time on their hands, but it was always the tough guys who would be pulling these pranks. I wont mention names but I remember one tough guy, a friend of mine got him back. This tough guy was trying to be in style and his shoes looked like bowling shoes, so my friend wrote 9½ on the back of them like the bowling shoes. It was pretty funny. The tough guys, they were pranksters for sure. #164995547 / gettyimages.com (Photo by Tony Brock/ Toronto Star via Getty Images)Do you ever wish you got to play out of the net in the NHL?Oh ya! I wanted to be a player, but because I couldnt skate I had to be a goalie, and then it was too late to change in my late teens. I definitely liked to get out of the net. One year I had 9 assists and I used to bug a guy on my team telling him I had more points than him. I was a closet passer and a set up man.What was your most embarrassing moment on the ice? Probably knocking over Mick McGeough. I wouldnt say that was embarrassing, because I was passionate about it, but I fell. I slipped and slid right into him and knocked him over, and I was too mad to be embarrassed in the moment, but now that Im older and I see the Top 10 Lose It Moments on SportsCetntre, and that moments up there, its embarrassing.What was your favourite thing about being a goaltender?My favourite thing was having a great game and being able to shut out the other team. Winning games that maybe you werent supposed to win…. if you were able to steal a game as a goaltender, any goalie will tell you theres no better feeling than contributing that at the NHL level, especially in the playoffs. When you can contribute and steal a game you werent supposed to win its a great feeling.And finally… what was the most memorable game you ever played in?Thats hard to say, I always say its like asking who is your favourite child… and uh, I cant say. But definitely the games where the most was on the line, Olympics or playing game 7s of series, I played in many game 7s and those are the highest risk, and most reward. Winning game 7s and winning the Olympics were all great, memorable experiences. 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