Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-20-2008

[Guest]

Knoxville News-Sentinel[/url]"]"Samardzija was better," Tennessee manager Buddy Bailey said. "The long ball got him."

 

Samardzija (3-4), a former Notre Dame football star, allowed six hits and six runs in five innings. He walked three and struck out four.

 

In six starts since April 25, Samardzija has pitched 25 1/3 innings and been tagged for 35 hits and 27 runs (all earned). He has walked 26 and struck out 17.

 

Samardzija's fastball reached 92 mph and he is healthy but he isn't the pitcher who allowed one run in winning his first two starts.

 

"He gets a little quick with his front shoulder and flies open and leaves everything up in the zone," Tennessee pitching coach Dennis Lewallyn said. "When he does, he gets hit hard."

 

It's a chronic problem.

 

"It's what he has always fought," Lewallyn said. "What we forget sometimes is that he is still a baby as far as pitching goes."

 

Samardzija's earned-run average has skied from 2.35 to 6.14 since April 10. His biggest problem against the Braves was keeping his pitches in the park.

[jersey cubs fan]

"It's what he has always fought," Lewallyn said. "What we forget sometimes is that he is still a baby as far as pitching goes."

 

You have to wonder how long the excuse is going to hold water. 240 college innings, about 220 professional innings. He's approaching 500 innings of fairly competitive pitching since the age of 19. Sure, he deserves some leeway because of the two-sport thing, but how much is reasonable? It was the Cubs who were discussing the potential of him being in the majors as early as last September, and at least by sometime this year. They can't pretend people are unfairly demanding early success.

 

He's no more new to pitching than Carlos Marmol was when he made his major league debut. Perhaps that's an unfair comparison, but if we can't even hope for him to be a solid reliever someday, what hope is there? The Cubs overdrafted Colvin, apparantly to save money for the Samardzija pick, and that sort of strategy demands some sort of positive impact. They may never even be able to trade these two for anything of value, let alone get decent major league production. That sort of waste could justifiably cause doubt in an owner with regard to the value of investing in prospects.