CHICAGO -- Jeff Samardzija on the Chicago White Sox is a deal that passes the smell test.
As in, the native son of Northwest Indiana and erstwhile Chicago Cub actually likes the fragrant odors of the South Side.
"It's just so close to home," Samardzija said in September when his Oakland A's were in town to play the White Sox. "You go out and step in the outfield to shag, or pitching, or whatever you're doing outside, you take a deep breath and it smells like I'm on the Valparaiso High School field playing."
Breathe it in, Sox fans. A blockbuster Tuesday at the winter meetings and it smells like ... hope?
Give the White Sox, who have had back-to-back terrible seasons, credit. They might draw like a small-market team, but they act like a big-market one.
No, that's not a dig at the Cubs, just the truth for a team that is a perennial second banana in its own market, struggling nowadays to draw 20,000 a game and get anyone besides friends and family to watch one on TV. Losing 188 games in the past two seasons hasn't helped.
Rumored for days and all-but official Monday, the Samardzija trade, a handful of prospects for one year of "Shark" and pitching prospect Michael Ynoa, is just the latest example of the Sox acting like they own the city.
Of course, all the bluster rarely turns into playoff seasons.
No one expected much from the 2005 White Sox, who will be feted at SoxFest this year, but the Sox have made the playoffs only once in the ensuing decade.
While activity and achievement don't always mix, it's always better to be active than inert.
And no, that's not a shot at the Cubs.
Seemingly every offseason, whether it's vice president Kenny Williams or general manager Rick Hahn running the show, the Sox pull off some unexpected, brassy trade or spend too much on a free-agent need and everyone gets all goosed up around Chicago.
Jose Abreu turned out way better than advertised last season, and Chris Sale was a Cy Young candidate, but the Sox still stunk, losing 89 games.
This winter, it's all about the additions of Samardzija and closer David Robertson, a free agent who will sign for $46 million over four years -- or about $7 million more than the Sox will pay Abreu over the same period.
On Tuesday morning, before either deal was announced by the team, pitching coach Don Cooper got on the radio with his heavy-breathing excitement, and Williams made his media rounds, took his bows and promised an exciting team on the South Side, tickets still available.
Hey, I'd be excited too if I were Williams and Cooper.
But this isn't a new story. Whenever this happens, we draw the provincial lines between the Go-Go, 2005 World Series-champion, perennial underdog Sox and the rich North Side, underachieving Cubs. People choose sides, argue and we all realize it can be fun to live in a thriving baseball town.
And then, the baseball season starts. The Sox disappoint, 18,000 fans show up for weekday games -- maybe 23,000 when Sale starts -- and we spin the wheel again the following winter.
"This time, we'll get it right!"
But you can't let past results get you down. I think it's in the Grinder Rules somewhere. Oh, here it is. Grinder Rule 137: Past is prologue.
Cynicism aside, I love the Samardzija deal, even on a one-year rental before he tests free agency.
The 29-year-old right-hander (he turns 30 in January) joins lefties Sale, Jose Quintana, John Danks and, likely, thrilling left-handed rookie Carlos Rodon in what should be one of baseball's best rotations.
Samardzija will start the season behind the ace, Sale, and in front of Quintana in the rotation, giving the Sox a one-two-three punch that will frustrate opposing hitters. Imagine if Rodon is as good as advertised and is the No. 5 starter?
Scary to think about, and with a few holes still on offense, not to mention a potentially shoddy defense, the Sox will need these guys to dominate.
"I think we're going to be the most competitive rotation in the league and I mean that internally," Samardzija said on his conference call. "Obviously I have high hopes for how we're going to perform on the field. The best rotations are made when there's three or four guys that want to be the best."
Obviously, the geographical ties are the story with this move.
Samardzija grew up a Sox fan in Valparaiso, Indiana, so this is a dream come true. He said his Sox fandom is a "connection you have to a time that dates way back, really down to your core," and that will affect him with a sense of pride on the mound.
A local kid playing Notre Dame football and then for the Cubs and White Sox? He joked he might have to lace up his old cleats and get a few games in with the Bears.
The White Sox open the season at Kansas City and Samardzija said he promises he will be wearing the black jersey for that one. He wants the black striped uniform at home.
"I'm more excited to don the hat," he said. "I've owned a few of those in my day. It's going to feel real good to get that 7 3/8 formed to my head."
Samardzija has spoken lovingly and with great humor of TV broadcaster Hawk Harrelson in the past, poking fun at his penchant for silence when things go awry. He's thrilled about hearing Hawk call his games, too.
"I'm really thinking about these interleague games," he said. "I got to get some at-bats at a National League club. I got to hit a homer just so I can get it on tape with his call. He's not going to have to say 'stretch,' because that thing is going to be way over the wall, but you know what I mean."
Now if Samardzija wants franchise pitcher money, he's likely moving on after this season, but he said the Sox would've been on his radar no matter what.
The Sox have to win now, every year, if they want to lure fans to the Cell. If they can win, that gives them better odds to land Samardzija for the future.
Samardzija said after talking to Hahn, and watching previous moves like the signings of Adam LaRoche and Zach Duke, he's confident the Sox are ready to "win now, not in the future."
The pitcher clarified that's not a dig at the Cubs, who traded him to Oakland last July after he starred on the awful first three teams of the Theo Epstein regime. But he's admitted frustration with the Cubs' losing in the past, while praising the rebuilding plan.
"I just think with the parity in professional sports, every year you should be competing to win because everything's so close," he said.
Samardzija is a winner, which is why then-general manager Jim Hendry threw so much money at him to give up football and pitch full-time. He thought Samardzija was a big city, bright lights kind of player. The gambit paid off, albeit after Hendry was fired. Samardzija is a franchise pitcher.
Now it's come full circle. Samardzija is back from "his trip out West," ready to reclaim a slice of home.