The trade Friday sending Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija from the Chicago Cubs to the Oakland Athletics sends the Athletics to the top of Box-Toppers team rankings and the Cubs to the bottom.
These players were traded from the Cubs to the Athletics:
• Pitcher Jason Hammel, 8.7 Box-Toppers points, previously ranked ninth among National League pitchers, now ranked 10th among American League pitchers. (Hammel had been the Cubs leader in Box-Toppers points.)
• Pitcher Jeff Samardzija, 3.0 Box-Toppers points.
These players were reported to have been traded from the Athletics to the Cubs:
• Shortstop prospect Addison Russell, who has yet to make his Major League debut.
• Outfield prospect Billy McKinney, who has yet to make his Major League debut.
• Pitcher Dan Straily, who has 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season.
In the short term, the Athletics have a net gain of 10.7 Box-Toppers points—picking up the 11.7 points from the Cubs and losing Straily’s 1.0 point.
For Box-Toppers rankings, each team inherits the total points of players acquired and loses the points of players traded away. This provides the Athletics a huge boost. At the July 3 team rankings report, the Athletics were the second-ranked team with 59.9 Box-Toppers points, just behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (61.6). The trade would boost that total to 70.6, giving them a 9.0-point lead over the Dodgers.
Conversely, the trade puts the Cubs at the bottom of Box-Toppers rankings. As of July 3, the Cubs rank 20th among all teams with 45.9 Box-Toppers points. Their net loss of 10.7 points (nearly a quarter of their season total) gives them 35.2 for the season, below the current lowest-ranked team, the Arizona Diamondbacks (41.1 Box-Toppers points).
But of course, the Cubs are playing for the long term, hoping the prospects pan out to be stars, racking up huge Box-Toppers points in the coming seasons.