The Oakland Athletics walked off with a 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in twelve innings today. What happened after the game what A’s fans and Major League Baseball are talking about.
After the game the A’s acquired starting pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel in a trade with the Chicago Cubs. A move that has now made Oakland not only the favorites to win the American League West, yet also a clear favorite to win the American League pennant two days after the being swept by the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs will receive Oakland’s no.1 prospect and 2012 first-round pick Addison Russell, 2013 first-round pick Billy McKinley, and former starter Dan Straily.
Hammel is in the final season of his contract, while Samardzija has one more year of arbitration before becoming a free agent. Samardzija, has a 2-7 record with an ERA of 2.83 and Hammel, 7-5 with a 2.98 ERA will be welcomed additions to what is already one of the best starting rotations in baseball. The duo will join a starting rotation including Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez and Tommy Milone, who was the starting pitcher in today’s win.
The Cubs in return will receive pair of former first-round draft picks. The first being Russel. Who has hit .333 in 58 at-bats for Double-A Midland and in 2014 has dealt with a hamstring strain, appearing in only 18 games this season. Russell also played for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, which included Cubs Triple-A hitting coach, Brian Harper.
McKinnley who is 19-years old was playing for Single-A Stockton and has hit 10 home runs with 33 RBI in 77 games.
Straily, 25, is 1-2 with a 4.93 ERA in seven starts with the A’s this season. He struggled with consistency in parts of three seasons and ended his tenure with the Athletics with a record of 13-11 in the last three seasons.
This move bolsters an already deep rotation for the A’s, who own the best record in baseball at 53-33. While the Cubs are currently in last place in the National League Central with a record of 38-46.
Fox Sports was the first to report of the trade. The trade was later confirmed by ESPNChicago.com