RUMBLINGS OF A SAMARDZIJA DEAL

I'm not sure what to make of it, but on Friday night when there were rumblings of a big trade involving Oakland, Jeff Samardzija's name was mentioned, as were the White Sox as a possible landing place. That wasn't the big deal Oakland pulled off, as it sent Josh Donaldson to Toronto in a deal I didn't understand, but that doesn't mean Oakland is done yet.

Susan Slusser, who covers the Athletics and was the first person to start tweeting about a big trade coming, sent out these tweets as well.

Again, source tells me that #Athletics nearing major deal that involves Samardzija for several players, team targeting hitters.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 29, 2014

I'm told 10 teams have expressed interest in Samardzija; #RedSox and #WhiteSox among them. But he is not in deal as @Ken_Rosenthal says.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 29, 2014

Now, that doesn't mean anything, as it's not a shock that the Sox would at least check in on the availability of Samardzija. But then late Friday night, just before I curled up into bed, this tweet made its way into my timeline.

Hearing from reliable source #WhiteSox will acquire RHP Jeff Samardzija this weekend from #Athletics.
— Jim Benson (@Pg_Benson) November 29, 2014

Obviously my first reaction was "who the hell is Jim Benson?" No offense to Benson, I've just never heard of him as he doesn't cover the White Sox or baseball in general. It turns out that Benson has done this before, though, as last year he tweeted about the White Sox trading Adam Dunn to Oakland a day before it happened, and a day before any of the traditional baseball media caught wind of the deal.

So it seems that Jim Benson is plugged in to deals between the White Sox and Athletics.

I'm not sure that means we should all sit here waiting for the deal to be announced, but it certainly gives the idea more credibility.

On the surface, I like the idea of the Sox adding Samardzija, but I just don't know what they'd have to give up to pull the deal off. The A's have reportedly talked to the Braves about Samardzija as well, and those rumors involve Justin Upton and Evan Gattis. So obviously Oakland wants back some Major League ready talent.

And that leaves me to believe Alexei Ramirez would be involved, as he has a similar contract situation to Samardzija right now, and the Athletics have a need for a shortstop. But I don't think Samardzija for Alexei straight up works, there would have to be more to it.

As for who those players would be, and what it would mean for the White Sox, I'm not going to worry about it until the trade actually happens.

For now I'll spend the rest of my weekend like most of you will. Closely following every tidbit of information I can find waiting to see an official announcement from the White Sox.