When Jason Hammel signed with the Cubs before the 2015 season, he and his family put down stakes in Chicago, buying a house in Lakeview and expecting to make the city their permanent home.
A lot of Cubs live in and around Wrigleyville, including Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. Southport Ave. isn't that big. So it wasn't impossible for Hammel to run into them.
“Yeah, I’d joke with them, ‘I’m still available, still unemployed,’” Hammel said Saturday at an autograph signing at Bergie’s Dugout in Highland Park. “We live in the same neighborhood, so it’s very easy to see each other.