Chicago Cubs Looking Up After Blockbuster Samardzija, Hammel Trade With A’s

It’s rare that a trade ends up benefiting both teams, but Friday night’s blockbuster swap between the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics could do just that.

The deal — which sent Cubs’ pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the A’s in return for top prospect Addison Russell among others — provides a big boost for Oakland’s immediate goal of winning a championship, giving them two pitchers with ERAs below 3.00.

Meanwhile, it could also put Chicago’s long-beleaguered National League club in a solid position heading into the second half of the decade, when team president Theo Epstein’s master plan is due to finally pay off.

ESPN Cubs correspondent Jesse Rogers declared that the trade, and Epstein’s comments after, was “finally, a statement of progress.”

For his part, Epstein, who came to the North Side of Chicago three years ago after a very successful run with the Boston Red Sox, once as perennially hopeless as the Cubs, sounded very pleased with the acquisition of Russell and what it meant for the team’s future.

“Being sellers is not what we want to do, so if we’re going to do it, we need to make it count,” he told reporters Saturday. “We need to get a player back that significantly impacts the organization. Helps change the landscape, helps make our future a heck of a lot better.”

Epstein and Rogers aren’t the only ones who think the Cubs may have pulled off a coup.

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman says that while the A’s instantly boosted their chances to reach – and win – this year’s World Series, “thanks to this deal, the Cubs may be favorites for 2017.”

Why? Because, as Heyman points out that “bats are at a premium at the moment and [the Cubs] have many of the best of them in the minors now,” which means the trade machinery might continue to run at full steam.

“Who wouldn’t want any of their big-time hitting prospects? There are so many, and they are so good, it’s hard to know who tops the list. MLB.com, which already moved Russell to the Cubs’ prospect list, even before the July 4 blockbuster that sent veteran starters Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland for Russell, top hitting prospect Billy McKinney, young pitcher Dan Straily and a player to be named was officially announced (presumably, it will be today), has Russell ranked third, behind Javier Baez and Kris Bryant, and ahead of Albert Almora. The list of studs goes on from there.”

And Epstein seems to agree that the stacked farm system puts the Cubs at a distinct advantage.

“If you look at the way the game is going, the batter/pitcher dynamic has shifted in recent years dramatically in favor of the pitcher,” he told reporters. “There are more effective pitchers out there than position players. You can’t win without pitching and we understand that and we have a plan to acquire good pitching and to build a really effective pitching staff. But there are more teams out there looking for offense then looking for pitching.”

But the Cubs adding Russell shouldn’t worry the team’s current shortstop, Starlin Castro, himself a young talent who has been one of the bright spots on the roster the past few seasons.

“This trade had nothing to do with Starlin Castro,” Epstein said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “It had everything to do about acquiring young impact talent.”

The Tribune even reports that Epstein placed a call to Castro’s agent just to reassure him of the fact that the 24-year-old shortstop isn’t going anywhere. The Cubs’ president called Castro “a centerpiece-type guy for this organization.”

Regardless of how the roster will end up shaking out over the next year or two, Chicago’s long history of futility on the North Side may be finally coming to an end. If nothing else, Friday’s big trade puts the Cubs in a strong position to declare independence form their losing ways.

[photo: Chicago Magazine]