By Morris Phillips

The A’s want to win now. And nothing states that desire more clearly than the acquisition of a pitcher with a losing record and a tough-to-pronounce last name.

According to multiple media outlets, the A’s have acquired starting pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel for top prospect Addison Russell, pitcher Dan Straily, 2013 first round pick Billy McKinney and a player to be named later.

With the trade, the A’s acquire a pair of top line starters without losing anyone off their big league roster which has surged over the last month to claim the best record in baseball (53-33). Also, the trade comes nearly four weeks before the July 31 trade deadline, giving the A’s a likely six or seven starts from the former Cubs that they wouldn’t have enjoyed had the trade been consummated at the deadline.

The A’s lose Russell, their top minor league prospect and a guy considered to be among the five best minor leaguers in any organization. The 22-year old Russell participated in the 2013 Futures Game in New York and projects as a middle infielder with pop that would have likely made his big league debut with Oakland in 2015 had he not been traded.

Samardzija stands as the jewel of the trade, a 29-year old power pitcher who is enjoying the best season of his career, despite his 2-7 record for the struggling Cubs. On May 26, Samardzija and the Cubs played at Pac Bell Park against the Giants, and the Chicago ace picked up his first win of the season in his 11th start. A victim of a notoriously unsupportive Cubs attack, Samardzjia claimed the statistical oddity of having the lowest ERA in the history of the game (1.46) after 10 starts of a season without having at least one win.

The former Notre Dame All-American as a wide receiver in football and a NFL prospect has a mid- 90’s fastball and a nasty slider that has allowed him to post a healthy 3-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and allow just 7 home runs in 108 innings pitched this season.

Hammel has eight victories for the Cubs this season with an ERA (2.98) a full run lower than his career mark. The 31-year old Hammel has post-season pitching experience with the Rockies and Orioles. As with Samardzija, Hammel is on track for a career-best season.

The pair stood as the most sought after pitchers on the trade market this summer along with the Rays’ David Price and the Phillies’ Cole Hamels. Both pitchers have extensive experience as relievers before turning into full-time starters.

The A’s needed to make a deal to sure up a rotation that’s missing injured Drew Pomeranz and started the season without Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin. Also current starters Sonny Gray and Jesse Chavez have never pitched over 100 innings in a big league season and they figured to have some drop off in performance at some point.

With the trade, the A’s rotation figures to feature Samardzija, Gray, Scott Kazmir, Hammel and Tommy Milone with Chavez a guy who can clearly be an effective starter but no current spot to ply his trade.

Along with the AL’s best record, the A’s have their statistical dominance featuring a run differential through 86 games (+129) that stands as the biggest in the big leagues prior to the All-Star break since the 2001 Mariners. The A’s lead the majors in runs scored, steal bases at the highest percentage of any club. and they rank fourth in team ERA which also highlights their outstanding bullpen that saw six relievers throw one scoreless inning in Friday’s 1-0, 12 inning win over the Blue Jays.

And now the biggest trade of the season to date has the A’s poised to improve and give them equal footing with playoff nemesis Detroit, who knocked Oakland out of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.