The Cubs traded starter Jeff Samardzija to the Oakland Athletics in July and now he might be making a return to Chicago, but this time it could be with the White Sox. The MLB Winter Meetings are underway and general manager Rick Hahn is ready to prepare for more offseason moves.
The White Sox signed first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year, $25 million deal as well as reliever Zach Duke to a three-year, $15 million earlier this offseason. Although there remain other areas of need, the starting rotation looks to be Hahn's next assignment after it ranked 25th in the MLB in terms of ERA (4.26). With three left-handers it's likely the team is after a righty, which explains their interest in Samardzija.
According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the White Sox are "looming as the frontrunner to acquire Athletics ace Jeff Samardzija after the clubs engaged in serious talks." Back in July the A's traded away their top prospect in shortstop Addison Russell and others to the Cubs in exchange for Samardzija and Jason Hammel. As a result, the Athletics are now interested in prospect Tim Anderson, who is the top position player in the White Sox's farm system and is considered their shortstop of the future. This past season in 83 minor league games, the 21-year-old slashed .301/.327/.481 with 57 runs scored, nine home runs, 40 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.
Samardzija would be a great addition for Chicago's starting rotation, whose top three pitchers are lefties. The right-hander had his best season in 2014 when he posted a 2.99 ERA and 1.065 WHIP in 33 starts with the Cubs and A's.
However, Hahn says he's not under any pressure to strike a deal at the Winter Meetings, but he's prepared to make a move with another team or a free agent. The White Sox are still in need of starting rotation and bullpen help as well as a solid bat or defensive glove, which gives them a lot of options to pursue in the offseason.
"Primarily, ideally, we are addressing things for the long term," Hahn told the Chicago Sun-Times. "We are acquiring players we can add to this young core [Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, Avisail Garcia et al] we have been able to assemble over the last year-plus and have control of for the next extended period of time. We are certainly open to short-term fits that makes us better in 2015. Ideally it's acquisitions that fit the longer term and we have to take it on a case-by-case basis in terms of players who aren't necessarily going to be under control for the same three, four or five [year] window we've been focused on for the last year and a half."
With plentiful prospects and a need to improve as soon as they can, the Chicago White Sox are one of the more fascinating teams to watch this offseason.
