A groundbreaking trade has just been announced, as the Cubs have dealt Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Oakland A’s for the highly-touted prospect Addison Russell, starting pitcher Dan Straily, and outfield prospect Billy McKinney. The players involved in the trade were first reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, and ESPN’s Keith Law, both via Twitter.
This is the first big trade in the 2014 baseball season and there is no doubt that it is going to effect both teams involved.
The A’s getting Jeff Samrdzija is a positive gain for them, no doubt about it. Yes, Samardzija does have an abysmal 2-7 record this season. However, looking at his very solid 2.83 ERA tells you exactly why: the rest of the Cubs team. With Samardzija and Hammel the A’s have strengthened their pitching staff, which is sure to help them as they try to continue to be the best team in baseball.
For the Cubs, the future looks a whole lot brighter after this trade. With the addition of Addison Russell, Chicago gets a Double-A star and hopeful big-leaguer who is hitting .333 with three doubles, one home run and eight RBI in just 13 games this season (he missed significant time due to injury).
The other two acquisitions for the Cubs have a lot of promise as well. Billy McKinney was drafted last season in the first round by the A’s at just 19 years old. So far this season in High-A he has a .241 batting average, as well as 12 doubles, 10 home runs, and 33 RBI. The numbers aren’t spectacular for High-A, but he is straight out of high school so the Cubs can certainly expect those numbers to improve as McKinney progresses.
As for Dan Straily, he is a pitcher who put up a winning record last season for the A’s (10-8 in 27 starts), but did not impress many people. He has had seven starts at the Major League level this season, but has been pitching at the Triple-A level for about two months.
Each team went in opposite directions in this trade as far as strategy goes. For the Cubs, they continue to try to improve their future roster with players that have potential to be great down the road. For Oakland, they embrace the “Win Now” mentality as they grab a couple of pitchers who will immediately boost their staff as they make a run for the 2014 World Series.
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