Addison Russell latest prized Windy City prospect set to debut

First came the imminent arrival of third baseman Kris Bryant on April 17 and a game in which he struck out three times in his Chicago Cubs debut. Then the Southside received welcoming news that LHP Carlos Rodon would be joining the big league club on Monday. Now, it’s back once more to the Northside of town as the Cubs continue to unleash their bevy of prized farm prospects against the MLB competition with five-tool shortstop Addison Russell set to get his feet wet.

And to think Oakland Athletics fans, this could have been your moment to banter at the water cooler for all the right reasons. Instead, there will be chatter, and the worst is probably yet to come once you all start making comparisons to Russell and Marcus Semien in a few months. Or even worse, Eric Sogard at second base, where Russell will probably make his first start.

Granted, Semien looks like he could be a nice player in Oakland. But the dismal connection there is that he is tied directly to the loss of Russell. Last year at the trade deadline, the A’s front office sent him as a key piece in the deal to acquire Jeff Samardzija, only to end up shipping Samardzija right back to a Chicago team (this time the White Sox) for Semien after having only made 16 starts for the A’s.

For all these reasons, Oakland has been directly linked to a lot of spring buzz in the Windy City over new acquisitions, be them veterans or prospects.

Russell will probably make Billy Beane look bad over the course of his career by reminding A’s fans he was given away for two half-season rentals at starting pitcher (Jason Hammel being the other) that did not net the club an AL pennant or a World Series ring. But the Drew Pomeranz, Jesse Hahn, Kendall Graveman and Semien trades might be enough to cloud Oakland fans judgements for a time.