Kevin Goldstein on Veal, Samardzija

[SaorsaDaonnan]

Donald Veal, Cubs. Veal still has control problems, but the fact that he’s suddenly giving up hits (76 in 75 innings) has his ERA at 5.64 as he’s hasn’t shown the breaking ball that he made such sizable progress with last year. Good news: he had his best start of the year on Wednesday, striking out 11 while giving up just two hits in five innings.

 

Jeff Samardzija, Cubs. A disturbing double-dip for the North Side. After giving him a record deal to buy him away from an NFL career, the big righthander from Notre Dame has been far worse than his 5.22 ERA would indicate--allowing 93 hits in 69 innings with a ridiculously low 25 strikeouts. He could be on the way to being one of the biggest bonus mistakes in draft history.

 

 

Surprisingly hyperbolic. Not good.

 

The context is that Callis wrote an article about an "all-disappointment team," by which he means a team consisting of at least semi-interesting players who have sucked hard this season. Injured players were not considered. He chose only two starting pitchers: a righty and a lefty, no backups.

 

Of course, it's strange that Callis doesn't mention things like the fact that 'Shark' is throwing a higher percentage of offspead pitches than he would if the goal were to be maximally competitive. Nevertheless, this is not exactly a vote of confidence...

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6402

Edited July 1, 2007 by SaorsaDaonnan

[SaorsaDaonnan]

Sorry, I seem to be taking crazy pills. THE ARTICLE IS FROM JEFF GOLDSTEIN, not Callis.

 

Hopefully someone will change the title....

 

 

:oops:

[NCCubFan]

Hopefully someone will change the title....

Done.

[Guest]

Actually, this is Kevin Goldstein, no? Callis did say he'd do a writeup on Samardzija struggling after the all-star break, though.

 

In terms of Veal, one of the biggest reason he's given up hits is that once he gets behind (which is often), he only has one pitch he can throw for strikes and that fastball gets hit a lot.

 

Samardzija, on the other hand...

[NCCubFan]

Actually, this is Kevin Goldstein, no?

Yep; title fixed again. This is on Saorsa since he's the one who said Jeff Goldstein.[/passing the buck] :D

[SaorsaDaonnan]

Actually, this is Kevin Goldstein, no?

Yep; title fixed again. This is on Saorsa since he's the one who said Jeff Goldstein.[/passing the buck] :D

 

 

 

And this, kids, is why you shouldn't drink....

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Actually, this is Kevin Goldstein, no?

Yep; title fixed again. This is on Saorsa since he's the one who said Jeff Goldstein.[/passing the buck] :D

 

 

 

And this, kids, is why you shouldn't drink....

 

I don't see enough evidence here that says I shouldn't drink.

[Soriano12]

After giving him a record deal to buy him away from an NFL career

 

Can we sell him back to the NFL?

[CubinNY]

Samardjia (or whatever) important numbers aren't that much different than what they were in college. The difference is he's not in college.

 

Perhaps he can learn to adjust and overcome. If he doesn't pan out he will be the best example of Hendry's tenure as GM. He's probably a great athlete but not a great baseball player.

[weis21]

Samardjia (or whatever) important numbers aren't that much different than what they were in college. The difference is he's not in college.

 

Perhaps he can learn to adjust and overcome. If he doesn't pan out he will be the best example of Hendry's tenure as GM. He's probably a great athlete but not a great baseball player.

 

But, but, he's got tools doesn't he?!

 

:roll:

[jersey cubs fan]

The worst part about the Samardzija situation is we don't even get a couple years where he's a very valuable trade chip. Throw Pawelek into that group, but typically you'd at least like your expensive draft picks to retain some value for a couple years so they can be considered, at the very least, sweetener to a potential deal. The really need him to have an awakening of some sort before next spring.

[the splendid splinter]

Well after one year we better release Samardzija because he really smells!!

[jersey cubs fan]

Well after one year we better release Samardzija because he really smells!!

 

Not really, we better pray he has some sort of enormous recovery from his abysmal beginning to his pro career. But, thanks for playing.

[CubColtPacer]

Well after one year we better release Samardzija because he really smells!!

 

LOL-you at least let him throw the pitches he wants for a while and see if he has success doing that before you release him. The Cubs don't seem to care about his numbers right now-they are convinced that his secondary pitches are going to come around, and they don't care how bad statistically his first year is as long as they develop. I'm greatly concerned about their progress though-I would think one of his pitches would be getting better by now (which it is possible that it is without showing results yet, but somewhat unlikely).

[jersey cubs fan]

Well after one year we better release Samardzija because he really smells!!

 

LOL-you at least let him throw the pitches he wants for a while and see if he has success doing that before you release him. The Cubs don't seem to care about his numbers right now-they are convinced that his secondary pitches are going to come around, and they don't care how bad statistically his first year is as long as they develop. I'm greatly concerned about their progress though-I would think one of his pitches would be getting better by now (which it is possible that it is without showing results yet, but somewhat unlikely).

 

For an organization so oblivious to the importance of numbers, especially the numbers that matter, I don't find much solace in the fact that they don't mind. I'm also not convinced they think it's all fine and dandy that he sucks, what with the move to the bullpen, however brief it was. I think all this "we're forcing him to throw offspeed stuff so results don't matter" is just brave talk in the face of what has been a disastrous first full professional season.

[CubinNY]

Samardjia (or whatever) important numbers aren't that much different than what they were in college. The difference is he's not in college.

 

Perhaps he can learn to adjust and overcome. If he doesn't pan out he will be the best example of Hendry's tenure as GM. He's probably a great athlete but not a great baseball player.

 

But, but, he's got tools doesn't he?!

 

:roll:

 

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/S/Jeff-Samardzija.shtml

 

Samardzija's college's numbers.