Did the Cubs make the right move in signing Lester?

On December 15 when the Chicago Cubs signed Jon Lester to a 6 year 155 million dollar deal it certainly improved their playoff chances. The Cubs also made minor moves with trades such as acquiring Miguel Montero and Tommy La Stella. They also signed new manager Joe Maddon who turned around Tampa Bay in a short period of time. Chicago had improved their playoff chances tremendously epically with the signing of Lester. The Cubs called Lester the best pitcher they have had in the past ten years. But after doing some small research did the Cubs actually do the right thing in signing Lester?

Last year they traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland. At the time they were probably the Cubs two best starters they had but overall the trade made sense given the Cubs position. Since the Cubs resigned Jason Hammel they didn't lose anything in trading him. But in trading Samardzija they lost one of the best pitchers in the league. In losing Samardzija, the Cubs then obviously signed Lester but was it the right move?  Since 2011 the starters each have similar numbers.

Jon Lester
3.61 ERA
3.56 FIP
1.257 WHIP
2.89 K/BB

Jeff Samardzija
3.61 ERA
3.52 FIP
1.220 WHIP
3.01 K/BB

As you can see these stats are practically identical. Samardzija even has better numbers in three of the four categories. Now I'm not saying that the trade with Oakland last summer was useless because the Cubs did receive three top prospects from Oakland. What I'm pointing out is that instead of spending big money on Jon Lester the Cubs could have bought a couple decent starters as well as other position players. In the Cubs point of view they do have a lot of top prospects now that should produce in the majors very soon. In my opinion the Cubs haven't changed all that much because even with the addition of Lester they still don't have a top offense. Lester could turn out exactly like Samardzija did, a pitcher with a great ERA but no wins to prove himself. In the next couple years, it will be very interesting to see how this Chicago team will turn out. If they don't produce as they are projected to, there could be big problems going forward for the franchise. Even after all the moves they still haven't improved greatly and in their division wins are very though to get. The Cubs are a team to watch over the next few years. Will this new Cub team compete or will they be a total bust? -Christopher Suddeth