Jeff Samardzija

[carolinacubbie]

I was just wondering if he was out of options? I'm sure I could find it somewhere, but not exactly where. The main reason I'm asking is because I just don't understand why he made the Opening Day Team. His numbers last year combined with his spring numbers this year are awful.

 

I would have gone with Mitch Atkins.

 

One more question, why did Jeff Gray only get one inning in the spring?

[CubColtPacer]

Samardzija does have an option left. They probably kept him both because he has some success in a major league bullpen and because they feel he has improved over the winter. Atkins was probably never an option after his disaster year in Iowa last year..there's probably 5-6 guys who would be a better long term option at this point.

 

Gray had a groin injury and got started so late in the spring that he only got 1 inning before he was sent down. He'll probably have a good shot of coming up when he's ready as he was considered a favorite to win a bullpen spot before the injury.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I'm going with "because the Cubs have some kind of weird blind spot for how awful he is at baseball."

[Cubbie Swagger]

I'm going with "because the Cubs have some kind of weird blind spot for how awful he is at baseball."

This.

 

Honestly, I still think Samardzjia is gonna end up leaving baseball and pursuing a football career.

[Guancous]

Because the Cubs drafted him in the 5th round and paid him 1st round money. He got a major league contract so the Cubs are already paying him like a major leaguer. All they need is a textbook explaining sunk costs. I'm not advocating cutting Samardzija but leaving him in the minors until he regains his 2008 form.

[imb]

I'm going with "because the Cubs have some kind of weird blind spot for how awful he is at baseball."

This.

 

Honestly, I still think Samardzjia is gonna end up leaving baseball and pursuing a football career.

 

too late for that. he's tied to baseball at this point.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm going with "because the Cubs have some kind of weird blind spot for how awful he is at baseball."

This.

 

Honestly, I still think Samardzjia is gonna end up leaving baseball and pursuing a football career.

 

too late for that. he's tied to baseball at this point.

 

Once his contract is up he's free to leave.

 

The problem with Samardzija is his supposed early success was a mirage. A sub 3 ERA and no HR in 27 innings was masked by an absurd amount of walks and baserunners allowed, and inevitably the more he pitcher the more his numbers showed how crappy he was. It's amazing how the two headed monster of Cubs stupidity have collided on this guy. They made a dumb decision to go after him and spend what they did, but once they did that, they had a "raw" (actually well over 200 major college innings) talented with mixed results they needed to get innings and teach. So what do they do? They move him all around from the bullpen to the rotation, and call him up to relieve then send him back to start and call him back up to relieve, and then just freaking hand him a job going into spring training because of his contract.

[Soul]

Because the Cubs drafted him in the 5th round and paid him 1st round money. He got a major league contract so the Cubs are already paying him like a major leaguer. All they need is a textbook explaining sunk costs. I'm not advocating cutting Samardzija but leaving him in the minors until he regains his 2008 form.

 

His 2008 form was likely just major league hitters needing to learn his stuff.

 

He simply needs to get better.

[jersey cubs fan]

Because the Cubs drafted him in the 5th round and paid him 1st round money. He got a major league contract so the Cubs are already paying him like a major leaguer. All they need is a textbook explaining sunk costs. I'm not advocating cutting Samardzija but leaving him in the minors until he regains his 2008 form.

 

His 2008 form was likely just major league hitters needing to learn his stuff.

 

He simply needs to get better.

 

His 2008 form was just him not throwing enough strikes to get beat around too badly.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

His 2008 form was him hiding bad pitching behind a decent ERA propped up by a ton of unearned runs.

[CubColtPacer]

His 2008 form was him hiding bad pitching behind a decent ERA propped up by a ton of unearned runs.

 

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Add those unearned runs back in and you don't get a true picture of how he pitched either. Opponents slugged under .300 against him. Anytime you have that great of a number, you should end up having a very good ERA even with a 1.4 WHIP.

 

Of course, that slugging number is partially because no balls left the ballpark against him that year and is completely unsustainable (how much so is unknown especially since he was much more of a ground ball pitcher in 08 than 09). So there are reasons to explain why he won't be as good in the future, but he was definitely good in 08.

[jersey cubs fan]

but he was definitely good in 08.

 

No, he was not definitely good. He walked 5 guys per inning. He was lucky to have pitched so few innings to have it catch up to him. By the time he doubled that small number of innings, it did catch up to him as his overall numbers suck.

[Guest]

Even with his atrocious walk rate, Samardzija put up a 3.06 FIP in 2008. He was very good, however sustainable it actually was.

[NCCubFan]

He walked 5 guys per inning.

I'm sure you mean 5 guys per 9 innings. Walking 5 guys per inning would make even Marmol look like he has good control in comparison.

[Derwood]

He's on the rostr because he went to Notre Dame, duh

[jersey cubs fan]

He walked 5 guys per inning.

I'm sure you mean 5 guys per 9 innings. Walking 5 guys per inning would make even Marmol look like he has good control in comparison.

 

Actually I was about to throw out a guy an inning in a joking manner and then just recalled it was like 4.99/9 so changed it, but not accurately obviously.

[Soul]

Even with his atrocious walk rate, Samardzija put up a 3.06 FIP in 2008. He was very good, however sustainable it actually was.

 

I just don't think it's a coincidence that this was also the period where he was unfamiliar.

[Guest]

Even with his atrocious walk rate, Samardzija put up a 3.06 FIP in 2008. He was very good, however sustainable it actually was.

 

I just don't think it's a coincidence that this was also the period where he was unfamiliar.

 

I think his extreme HR rate and small sample size are the more likely cause, much like he's probably not as bad as he was last year with his K and HR rates being out of character.

[ReadytoPlayCF]

I'm a believer in his new change-up. I think he can still be a good pitcher.

[CubbieBum]

I wouldn't mind seeing his name spelled correctly in the thread title. As for him in the bullpen I'm not sure if I mind that right now. He's got some great stuff if he can ever control it so I'm not opposed to putting him in the bullpen and see if he can stick.

 

That said I would much prefer the Cubs stop messing with him and let him sit in AAA as a starter all season and only be called up if it for starting games. I think the constantly switching back and forth has hampered his development.

[Magnetic Curses]

I wouldn't mind seeing his name spelled correctly in the thread title.

 

.....and only be called up if it for starting games.

[17 Seconds]

I wouldn't mind seeing his name spelled correctly in the thread title.

 

.....and only be called up if it for starting games.

 

worst comparison ever

[imb]

I'm going with "because the Cubs have some kind of weird blind spot for how awful he is at baseball."

This.

 

Honestly, I still think Samardzjia is gonna end up leaving baseball and pursuing a football career.

 

too late for that. he's tied to baseball at this point.

 

Once his contract is up he's free to leave.

 

obviously i was talking about the fact that whatever chance he had an NFL career was flushed away when he decided to spend all this time playing baseball. he's not the type of athlete that can just pick football back up and be nfl caliber.

[Magnetic Curses]

I wouldn't mind seeing his name spelled correctly in the thread title.

 

.....and only be called up if it for starting games.

 

worst comparison ever

 

and he spelled "it's" wrong. he really shouldn't be harassing people on spelling and grammar. that said, i wasn't talking to you, freak

[CubbieBum]

I wouldn't mind seeing his name spelled correctly in the thread title.

 

.....and only be called up if it for starting games.

 

worst comparison ever

 

and he spelled "it's" wrong. he really shouldn't be harassing people on spelling and grammar. that said, i wasn't talking to you, freak

 

Actually I didn't. I neglected to type the word "were."

 

Also you never capitalize so you shouldn't be policing people on spelling and grammar either.