MLB Update: 7/5 | Cubs a Contender in the Near Future?

History of Baseball: 1931
World Series Champions: St. Louis Cardinals (101-53, .656).
     Two notable events occurred in 1931 before the season even began.  During spring training in Houston, Texas, the White Sox and Giants engaged in the first night game in baseball history.  Later, at the tail end of spring training, the New York Yankees took on the Southern League Chattanooga Lookouts, now a Dodgers minor league team.  Jackie Mitchell, a 17 year old girl and former neighbor of Dazzy Vance, took the mound for the Lookouts.  She ended up striking out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, cementing her place in baseball history.  Once the season started, almost everything good that happened had to do with the Philadelphia Athletics.  They went on a 17 game winning streak in May, while ace pitcher Lefty Grove won 16 straight decisions.  They won their 100th game on September 16th, almost two weeks before the season was set to end.  Meanwhile, in rural Jefferson County, outside Bessemer, Alabama, a boy named Willie Howard Mays was born.  Two decades later, he would begin a career that some put as the greatest of all time.
       The Philadelphia A's (107-45) cruised to the American League pennant on strong performances by Lefty Grove, Al Simmons, and Jimmie Foxx, winning the league by 13.5 games over the Yankees (94-59).  The National League was just as one-sided, as the Cardinals (101-53) won the league by 13 games over the Giants (87-65).  The two powerhouses met in the World Series for the second straight season, but this time, the Cardinals came out on top in seven games.  Pepper Martin was the leading factor for the Cardinals, batting .500 (12-24) with a home run, five RBI, five runs scored, and five stolen bases.  Bill Hallahan shut the A's down from the mound, going 2-0 with a 0.49 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP over three games (two starts).  Burleigh Grimes (2.04 ERA) earned the other two victories for St. Louis, while MLB Triple Crown winner and AL MVP Lefty Grove went 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA in the A's' losing effort.
     In the first season with the modern, BBWAA administered MVP award, the AL honor was handed out to Lefty Grove, while the NL version was given to the Cardinals' Frankie Frisch.  Frisch batted .311 with four home runs, 82 RBI, 28 stolen bases, and 96 runs scored for the World Series winning Cardinals.  Back in the AL, the Yankees' Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were at it again, tying for the major league home run lead at 46.  Ruth batted .373 with 163 RBI and 149 runs scored, while Gehrig batted .341 with 163 runs scored and a still-standing AL record of 184 RBI.  The A's' Al Simmons won the MLB batting title, clocking in at .390 while hitting 22 home runs and driving in 128.  The Cardinals' Chick Hafey won the NL batting title at .349 while hitting 16 home runs.  Cleveland's Earl Averill put up a big breakout season by batting .333 with 32 home runs and 143 RBI.  It was the third straight season in which he batted over .330 to start his career, but the first in which he clubbed 20 home runs.  Over in Boston, little known Red Sox outfielder Earl Webb smacked a major league record setting 67 doubles, though he would play just two more years and retire at 36.  The 67 doubles broke George Burns' 1926 record of 64, and have never been touched since.  On the mound, it was all Lefty Grove.  The MVP winning Philadelphia Athletic went 31-4 with a 2.06 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and 175 strikeouts, leading the majors in all four categories.  It was Grove's second straight Triple Crown, as he had been 28-5 with a 2.54 ERA and 209 strikeouts a year earlier.  Between the two seasons, which were characterized by high scoring offenses, Grove was 58-9 with a 2.30 ERA and 384 strikeouts.  Lefty Gomez, a Yankees pitcher with a similar name, put up a breakout season by going 21-9 with a 2.67 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP.  Another breakout star was the Giants' Carl Hubbell, who went 14-12 with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP.  Bill Walker, also of the Giants, put up a big season as well, going 16-9 with a 2.26 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.  

News
Cubs traded Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 2.83 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, age 29) and Jason Hammel (8-5, 2.98 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, age 31) to the A's for Dan Straily (1-2, 4.93 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, age 25) and minor leaguers Addison Russell (1 HR, 9 RBI, .297 AVG, 4 SB at High Class A and AA, age 20) and Billy McKinney (10 HR, 33 RBI, .241 AVG, 5 SB at High Class A, age 19).
Dodgers left hander Clayton Kershaw extended his scoreless streak to 36 innings, the third longest such streak in Dodgers history.
Braves won their eighth straight game.

No one should be surprised that Chicago ace Jeff Samardzija was shipped to Oakland.  Samardzija, one of the more dominating pitchers in baseball, has gotten almost zero run support from the last place Cubs, even touting a 0-4 record with a major league leading 1.46 ERA on May 21st.  Now 2-7 with a 2.83 ERA, it is clear that the Notre Dame alumnus is needed elsewhere.  He will do very well in Oakland, as he misses bats and has shown tremendously improved command over the past few seasons. Prior to 2014, his best season occurred in 2012, when he was 9-13 with a 3.81 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP.  In 2013, he went 8-13 with a 4.34 ERA and 214 strikeouts.  Over his seven year career, spent entirely in Chicago, he is 31-42 with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.  The A's also picked up veteran Jason Hammel, a 6'6" right hander in his ninth major league season.  2014 has been a big comeback year for him, as he's gone 8-5 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP with the Cubs.  That stands in stark contrast to 2013, when he was 7-8 with a 4.97 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP with the Orioles.  Hammel doesn't strike out as many batters as Samardzija, but his command is very good, as evidenced by his 23 walks in 108.2 innings this season.  The Washington State native put up his best season in an injury shortened 2012, when he was 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP before a knee injury cut off his season at 20 starts.  For his career, he is 57-64 with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.
To me, the centerpiece of this trade is not Samardzija, but Addison Russell.  The 20 year old is ranked as the Athletics' top prospect as well as number eleven in all of baseball.  Put Russell together with other Cubs hitting prospects like Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora, Arismendy Alcantara, Kyle Schwarber, and Brett Jackson, and the Cubs have easily the best crop of young hitting in all of baseball.  The Cubs also already have young hitters like Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro in the majors.  If they can draft a strong starting pitcher early in the 2015 draft, I see the World Series drought ending within five to ten years.  Drafted eleventh overall in the 2012 draft, Russell batted .369 with seven home runs and 16 stolen bases in 55 games across three levels that season.  He moved up to High Class A Stockton in 2013, where he batted .275 with 17 home runs, 60 RBI, and 21 stolen bases in 107 games at just 19 years old.  A hamstring injury has hampered him this year, but he is now healthy and batting .333 through 13 games at AA Midland.  Dan Straily also gives the Cubs a solid young starting pitcher.  Though he has spent much of 2014 at AAA Sacramento, the 25 year old is capable of being a rotation mainstay in the near future.  Straily went 10-8 with a 3.96 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP in 2013, and rarely gives up hits.  For his career, opposing hitters are batting .233 against him.  He is also 13-11 with a 4.11 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over three seasons.  Lastly, the Cubs acquired 19 year old Billy McKinney, an outfielder with good all around tools.  He was taken 24th overall in the 2013 draft, and proceeded to bat .326 with three home runs and eight stolen bases over 55 games across two levels that year.  Playing for High Class A Stockton this season, he is currently batting .241 with ten home runs and five stolen bases.  

Game Scores
Cubs (38-46) beat the Nationals (46-39) 7-2.
Yankees (43-42) beat the Twins (38-47) 6-5.
Pirates (45-41) beat the Phillies (37-49) 8-2.
Rays (39-50) beat the Tigers (48-35) 6-3.
Dodgers (50-39) beat the Rockies (36-51) 9-0.
Top Scorer: Dodgers beat the Rockies 9-0.

Standings
AL East: Orioles (46-39, .541 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (48-35, .578).  AL West: A's (53-33, .616).
NL East: Braves (48-38, .558).  NL Central: Brewers (51-36, .586).  NL West: Dodgers (50-39, .562).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (49-36, .576) and Mariners (47-39, .547).  NL Wild Cards: Giants (47-39, .547) and Nationals (46-39, .541).
Bottom Team: Diamondbacks/Astros (36-52, .409).  Longest W Streak: Braves, 8 games.  Longest L Streak: Rangers, 6 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .350 (99-283).  Home runs: Jose Abreu (White Sox), 27.  RBI: Jose Abreu and Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays), 69.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 41.
Pitching: Wins: Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees), 12.  K's: David Price (Rays), 153.  ERA: Adam Wainwright (Cardinals), 1.89 (124 IP, 26 ER).  Saves: Craig Kimbrel (Braves) and Francisco Rodriguez (Brewers), 27.

Top Performers
Offensive: Dayan Viciedo (White Sox): 4-4, home run (10), RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .010 from .242 to .252, hitting streak to 1 game (4-4, 1.000 AVG).
Pitching: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers): Win (10-2), 8 shutout innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 8 K's (115), ERA drop: 0.19 runs from 2.04 to 1.85.
Worst Pitching Performance: Jair Jurrjens (Rockies): Loss (0-1), 4.2 innings, 8 earned runs, 12 hits, 1 walk, 3 K's (3), ERA jump: 15.43 runs from -.-- to 15.43.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman