Hammel/Samardzija Traded to A's for Russell/McKinney/Straily

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Seeing other teams' fans start trying to come up with bad trade proposals to "relieve" the Cubs of their excess position prospects for lesser pitching prospects just reminds me how much I don't want to make any trades and screw pitchers forever.

[sneakypower]

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan 25s

Theo clears up positions: Javy SS, 2B, 3B or OF. Bryant 3B or RF. Arismendy 2B, SS or OF. Addison SS, 3B or 2B.

lol that clears up nothing

[Neuby]

Opening 30 starts at the big league level for Beeler/Wada to get an extended look is another big plus in this deal.

[Guest]

Carrie Muskat ‏@CarrieMuskat 2m

Theo told Starlin Castro's agent they're "ecstatic" about how #Cubs SS has played this year

[Guest]

keithlaw ✔ @keithlaw

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Ready by year end. “@rlac17: @keithlaw How long before Addison Russell is MLB ready? A's defense gives away too many outs”

 

 

9:40 PM - 3 Jul 2014

[Brian]

Carrie Muskat ‏@CarrieMuskat 2m

Theo told Starlin Castro's agent they're "ecstatic" about how #Cubs SS has played this year

 

... as Theo looked at B.A.'s top 100 prospect list with a devilish smile.

[KingCubsFan]

keithlaw ✔ @keithlaw

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Ready by year end. “@rlac17: @keithlaw How long before Addison Russell is MLB ready? A's defense gives away too many outs”

 

 

9:40 PM - 3 Jul 2014

Law has always been Russell's biggest fan.

[gocubs2118]

Seeing other teams' fans start trying to come up with bad trade proposals to "relieve" the Cubs of their excess position prospects for lesser pitching prospects just reminds me how much I don't want to make any trades and screw pitchers forever.

 

Mets fans have already traded for Castro and gave us Syndergaard in return. How nice of them!

[Clem Fandango]

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan 25s

Theo clears up positions: Javy SS, 2B, 3B or OF. Bryant 3B or RF. Arismendy 2B, SS or OF. Addison SS, 3B or 2B.

lol that clears up nothing

 

Here I thought they were grooming Alcantara to be a Zobrist type... they're doing that for everyone.

 

http://i.imgur.com/HuLuD.gif

[imb]

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan 25s

Theo clears up positions: Javy SS, 2B, 3B or OF. Bryant 3B or RF. Arismendy 2B, SS or OF. Addison SS, 3B or 2B.

lol that clears up nothing

 

Here I thought they were grooming Alcantara to be a Zobrist type... they're doing that for everyone.

 

http://i.imgur.com/HuLuD.gif

 

ahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahaha

[Thrilho]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/cubs-athletics-trade-jeff-samardzija-jason-hammel-addison-russell-billy-mckinney/

 

The real winner here? Well, it just might be Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay Rays, who just saw two of the top available pitchers get moved while only one contender benefits, leaving the Mariners, Cardinals, Dodgers, Angels, Blue Jays and everyone else to fight for Price. They might not get a prospect the caliber of Russell — there simply aren’t many in existence — but as that feeding frenzy gets going, the haul ought to be impressive. If this deal is any indication, July is going to be a blast.

 

 

 

"...it is an insanely, ludicrously enviable group of young players, and don’t forget that Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro are only 24 and playing like stars in the big leagues."

 

This is my favorite description yet of the Cubs' embarrassment of riches.

[d_money]

under-25 MLB SS:

 

Castro - .807 OPS

Bogaerts - .688

Simmons - .661

Miller - .611

Segura - .599

 

i'll keep Castro, thank you

 

yeah but does Castro "get it?"

Plus, he's lazy....

[Backtobanks]

Who the hell cares about McKinney? Would you have traded hammel and samardzija for Baez? Because Russell is that level of a prospect.

 

I understand how good Russell is and I've not said a bad thing about that portion of the deal. But Shark is a legit TOR pitcher and he has fewer innings on his arm than pretty much any 29 year old stud you're going to find. We got a great talent, but we gave up a great talent too and the 2nd and 3rd pieces are intriguing, but questionable.

 

Not a bad deal by any stretch, but I'm not sure it's exciting either.

 

It's certainly not a bad deal, but just 1-2 days ago we were hearing that the asking price for Samardzija alone was 3 top prospects plus one other. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal the FO makes for pitching by using the surplus offensive prospects. Vogelbach, Soler, Almora, and Alcantara could all be expendable depending on how prospects develop and take to playing new positions.

[illiniguy]

Who the hell cares about McKinney? Would you have traded hammel and samardzija for Baez? Because Russell is that level of a prospect.

 

I understand how good Russell is and I've not said a bad thing about that portion of the deal. But Shark is a legit TOR pitcher and he has fewer innings on his arm than pretty much any 29 year old stud you're going to find. We got a great talent, but we gave up a great talent too and the 2nd and 3rd pieces are intriguing, but questionable.

 

Not a bad deal by any stretch, but I'm not sure it's exciting either.

 

It's certainly not a bad deal, but just 1-2 days ago we were hearing that the asking price for Samardzija alone was 3 top prospects plus one other. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal the FO makes for pitching by using the surplus offensive prospects. Vogelbach, Soler, Almora, and Alcantara could all be expendable depending on how prospects develop and take to playing new positions.

Three top 100 guys. We got a top 5 guy. This isn't that hard to figure out.

[Guest]

Who the hell cares about McKinney? Would you have traded hammel and samardzija for Baez? Because Russell is that level of a prospect.

 

I understand how good Russell is and I've not said a bad thing about that portion of the deal. But Shark is a legit TOR pitcher and he has fewer innings on his arm than pretty much any 29 year old stud you're going to find. We got a great talent, but we gave up a great talent too and the 2nd and 3rd pieces are intriguing, but questionable.

 

Not a bad deal by any stretch, but I'm not sure it's exciting either.

 

It's certainly not a bad deal, but just 1-2 days ago we were hearing that the asking price for Samardzija alone was 3 top prospects plus one other. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal the FO makes for pitching by using the surplus offensive prospects. Vogelbach, Soler, Almora, and Alcantara could all be expendable depending on how prospects develop and take to playing new positions.

 

Three organizational top prospects.

 

We got a top ~5 in baseball prospect (along with a #2 organizational).

[CubInOK]

Seeing other teams' fans start trying to come up with bad trade proposals to "relieve" the Cubs of their excess position prospects for lesser pitching prospects just reminds me how much I don't want to make any trades and screw pitchers forever.

 

Mets fans have already traded for Castro and gave us Syndergaard in return. How nice of them!

I wouldn't mind giving up Russell for Buxton.

[Gilby]

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan 25s

Theo clears up positions: Javy SS, 2B, 3B or OF. Bryant 3B or RF. Arismendy 2B, SS or OF. Addison SS, 3B or 2B.

 

If Theo actually said them in that order, it looks like they could be leaning Javy at 2B and Russell 3B.

 

I think it will be interesting to see the opening day 2015 lineup considering Bryant, Baez, Russell, Soler etc won't be in it. It could be tough getting a FA even on the level of Rasums or Melky to sign here knowing all of these guys could be ready sometime in 2015. Hopefully we still hold on to Valbuena and Ruggiano so our April 2015 lineup isn't totally awful and ruins our chances later on in the season.

 

Liking the deal the more and more I look at it. Hopefully the DH comes soon so there's room for Schwarber. Yeah, yeah, you can trade him but I think he's going to be a monster hitter himself.

Edited July 5, 2014 by Gilby

[davell]

McKinney realistically is/was top 150 at worst. And not in my personal Cubs top 10. Which is just fun.

[davell]

[Clem Fandango]

 

Brett put together a good collection of quotes from the media conference call here:

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2014/07/05/theo-epstein-discusses-the-samardzijahammelrussellmckinneystraily-trade/

 

Makes it sound like a Castro trade is not gonna happen, and that they plan on keeping him at SS for the future.

Edited July 5, 2014 by The Logan

[imb]

I like this

 

Theo calls Starlin a centerpiece to plans and says Cubs SS shouldn't be looking over his shoulder.

[Cubswin11]

I like this

 

Theo calls Starlin a centerpiece to plans and says Cubs SS shouldn't be looking over his shoulder.

Yup

[PrimeTime]

Jesse Rogers @ESPNChiCubs

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Theo says there was no pitcher avail in trade market that "was close" to the talent of Addison Russell

[dawson1989]

I like this

 

Theo calls Starlin a centerpiece to plans and says Cubs SS shouldn't be looking over his shoulder.

 

Interesting. I guess all these prospects boil down to is how well they adapt to different positions. If they can't, more trades will follow. If they can, likely more trades to follow anyways haha.

[Guest]

Apologies for not being clear on my Samardzija point earlier. He does the June swoon thing every year - that doesn't mean that he's bad the rest of the year. He does have a career 5.80 ERA in June.

 

ERA's by month:

 

Mar/April: 3.48

May: 2.46

June: 5.80

July: 3.75

August: 4.13

Sept/Oct: 4.47

 

It's not damning evidence by any means. But there is some reason to be concerned there.