Cubs Trade Samardzija, Hammel To Oakland A's
(CBS) – In a blockbuster deal, the Cubs traded starting pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Athletics late Friday night for a pair of top propsects.
The headliner Chicago gets back in the deal is Addison Russell, Oakland's 20-year-old shortstop who is considered a top-10 prospect in all of baseball. The Cubs also received outfielder Billy McKinney (a 2013 first-round pick), pitcher Dan Straily and a player to be named later.
It's a major win-now move for the A's, as the 29-year-old Samardzija is 2-7 with a 2.83 ERA this season, while the 31-year-old Hammel is 7-5 with a 2.98 ERA.
Hammel will be a free agent after this season, while Samardzija will become a free agent after the 2015 season. He and the Cubs had been having contract negotiations but never found a common ground. Samardzija reportedly wanted a five-year deal in the $100-million range, but the Cubs' offer was around the $80-million range.
Samardzija will start for Oakland on Sunday against Toronto, he told 670 The Score's Bruce Levine.
Straily, 25, is 1-2 with a 4.93 ERA in seven starts for Oakland this season. He's been largely inconsistent in bouncing back and forth between the majors and minors the past three years, going 13-11 in 41 starts in that time span for the A's.
Russell is rated as ESPN.com's third-best position prospect. In Javier Baez, the Cubs boast another shortstop who is a top-10 prospect as well.