Reactions to The Samardzija/Hammel Trade

Well for the second straight year the Chicago Cubs trade a star pitcher, and get back a great return. However, this return looks a lot better. Let's take a look at the overview of the deal before I go in depth.

Oakland Athletics get: Jeff Samardzija, Jason Hammel

Chicago Cubs get: Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily, PTBNL or cash

So obviously Chicago made this move because they are well out of contention, and need to build on to their already impressive farm system. In addition to Samardzija not accepting any of their contract offers. A Samardzija trade was not a suprise. But a Samardzija to Oakland trade was rather new to many.

It is speculated Oakland made this move after a 3-game sweep by Detroit a few days before this trade was completed . They believed their current rotation of Gray/Kazmir/Chavez could not compete with Detroit's Scherzer/Verlander/Sanchez.

Let's go in-depth with this deal starting with Oakland.

Jeff Samardzija: Jeff Samardzija was one of 2 main pieces in this deal, alongside Russell. Samardzija adds a veteran and ace-like presence in the rotation. He has a 2.83 ERA, 103 Ks, a 8.58 K/9, along with a BB/9 of 2.58 in 108 IP. More in-depth he has a FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) of 3.07, and xFIP of 3.20. His xFIP- of 82 is borderline ace/#2. Watch out for him to compete with Sonny Gray as the #1 of that staff, and right now, it's pretty close.

Jason Hammel: Hammel will most likely fill out the middle of the rotation. Hammel is doing rather well since leaving Baltimore, looking like one of Baltimore's 2 mistakes on letting go of pitching (along with former 2-time teammate Jake Arietta). He is sporting a 2.98 ERA, 104 Ks, and 23 walk while working 108.2. His FIP of 3.16, xFIP of 3.23, and xFIP- of 87 suggest he should be up there with Gray and Samardzija, barring he finds his former self again.

Now let's take a look at the 2 prospects and pitcher they got in return for those two good pitchers.

Addison Russell: Russell is a consensus Top-15 prospect among MLB.com and Baseball America rankings (#11 and #14 respectively). There is not any MLB experience in him yet, but his minor league showing suggests he will be good. In his only level of baseball with greater than 26 games (2013 in 107 games with A's High-A affiliate) he hit a slash of .275/.377/.508, with 17 HR and 60 RBIs. He looks to compete with top-prospect Javier Baez, and MLB-level Starlin Castro for that SS spot, or will switch positions or be traded again.

Billy McKinney: Oakland's 1st-round pick in the 2013 MLB draft, McKinney has shown upside. The outfielder has struggled in high A in the average category, but has shown great power. Don't let that average discourage you, he has shown a sweet swing, and great bat-speed. Expect him to climb Chicago prospect charts rather fast.

Dan Straily: Dan Straily was drafted by the A's and developed thru their system. He had been one of their top pitching prospects a little while ago, but hasn't really translated that into the MLB yet. This year he has a 4.93 ERA, 7.98 K/9, and a 3.52 BB/9. Advanced metrics show him as a shaky subject with a 5.64 FIP, 4.42 FIP, and 113 xFIP-. Straily could turn into either a huge win, or a big loss. But with the way Chicago has seemed to turn pitchers around, maybe there's hope for straily.

PTBNL: Seems to be a low-end prospect because cash could be given instead.

So now with that finished, let's take a look at how each team did in a win/loss format.

Oakland Athletics: WIN At first I was a little skeptical of Billy Beane's motives by trading their top prospect when they are already the best in baseball. But as I dug deeper into stats and metrics, I saw that Hammel was a great addition to this team, and that Oakland is still doing their "Moneyball" theory. This move puts them in as serious World Series contenders. But it may have lost them a great shortstop and outfielder of the future.

Chicago Cubs: WIN Perfectly fits into their strategy of getting the best farm. They gave up on two guys who didn't want to be apart of the rebuild, and turned them into two high-end prospects, and a pitching project for them. They now have the ability to deal one of those positional prospects for a pitching prospect to strengthen that farm. Things are looking up for Cubs fans.


Disclaimer: All stats are as of 7/6/2014. If you are lost, or don't know some of the metrics in this article, I suggest using the Fangraphs Metrics Library (link Here).