Re: Jeff Samardzija is (or was) pretty awesome

[Guest]

Never thought I'd say that.

 

But since there isn't a thread to discuss this young hard throwing power pitching stud starter that we suddenly happened into, I figured I'd make one.

 

Anyway, Jeff leads the majors in SwStk%, at 13.3%, which would suggest he's had the best, or at least some of the best, stuff of any starting pitcher in MLB this year.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/pitcher-swstk-leaders/

 

As Bradley Woodrum told us early on and Chris Cwik reminded us a month later, Jeff Samardzija is no fluke. Since I own him in all of my leagues, I have made sure to watch him pitch in most of his starts. What makes me scratch my head is how he didn’t consistently post eye-popping strikeout rates in the past. His stuff is truly fantastic and both the eye test and a league best SwStk% backs it up. The only remaining concern is his control, which has been problematic in the past. However, he is sporting a better than league average F-Strike% and has only walked more than two batters in a game once. I hate cliches as much as every other stat nerd, but he may be one of the few true examples of someone who has transformed from a thrower into a pitcher.

Edited May 24, 2012 by David

[UMFan83]

Yeah it's just too bad his team can't hit or play defense to help him out so he'll pitch fantastically and lose when his only ERs are from 2 players colliding with each other trying to catch a popup.

[Guest]

Yeah it's just too bad his team can't hit or play defense to help him out so he'll pitch fantastically and lose when his only ERs are from 2 players colliding with each other trying to catch a popup.

 

Good thing there are years beyond this one.

[UMFan83]

Yeah it's just too bad his team can't hit or play defense to help him out so he'll pitch fantastically and lose when his only ERs are from 2 players colliding with each other trying to catch a popup.

 

Good thing there are years beyond this one.

 

Dude 12/21/12

[Little Slide Rooter]

I never thought that he would end up Jim Hendry's greatest gift.

[Old Style]

One of the only bright spots so far. Hope this continues for many, many, many years.

[davell]

For me, our best case scenario this season was for 2 of Shark, Volstad, and Wood to turn into serviceable mid to back end of the rotation guys. Even after the hype in ST, I didn't see Shark looking THIS good. It's cool all the analysts are saying great things too. And Wood, while it's only been 2 starts, has definitely looked damn solid. In his own right.

[illiniguy]

I never thought that he would end up Jim Hendry's greatest gift.

Starlin Castro is a Hendry gift also.

[Guest]

How many innings would everyone let Samardzija work in the year he's transitioning from the pen?

[bukie]

How many innings would everyone let Samardzija work in the year he's transitioning from the pen?

I'd go with 150 tops, preferably as spread out as possible throughout the year rather than shutting him down in August.

[SouthSideRyan]

How many innings would everyone let Samardzija work in the year he's transitioning from the pen?

 

Including playoffs?

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

I never thought that he would end up Jim Hendry's greatest gift.

 

Starlin Castro and in a couple of years the badass Javier Baez.

 

Shark is awesome. I love how all of a sudden he has these easy mechanics. It's been years in the making and the payoff is looking great.

[davell]

I think I might let him go 160-175. He's a bit older, although his arm isn't. I think he's going to do his damndest to talk them into a full season, so he can hit 200. I'd put a halt to that, but a question I have is this: Is it innings to worry about mostly or is it total amount of pitches? Without looking, he seems to have been pretty economical for the most part with his amount, so maybe you could get him some extra work, if that IS the case?

[SouthSideRyan]

I wouldn't be apoplectic if they pushed him to 165 or so. He threw 141 in each of his first 2 full seasons, then 124, followed by 130 before moving to pen full time last year.

[davell]

How many innings would everyone let Samardzija work in the year he's transitioning from the pen?

 

Including playoffs?

Didn't think about that. Good call. We could easily have a Strasburg/Nats issue brewing......

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

How many innings would everyone let Samardzija work in the year he's transitioning from the pen?

 

Random number....160 in the regular season + playoffs? Definitely something that will be interesting to monitor. He's big, a little older, his velocity is easy, and he's been surprisingly efficient with his pitches and pitch counts. Sveum definitely has been careful, which I really like. Last night I think he threw 90 and off the top I don't think he's topped 110, if that high.

Edited May 24, 2012 by PriortoTheoIhadWood

[jersey cubs fan]

I wouldn't be apoplectic if they pushed him to 165 or so. He threw 141 in each of his first 2 full seasons, then 124, followed by 130 before moving to pen full time last year.

 

Yeah, that's probably good.

[Guest]

I'm hesitant to put a strict number on the IP, because as he's shown this year, Samardzija can have outings where the innings pile up pretty quickly without many pitches or stressful situations. I'd like to get him to 160, how much beyond that should be dictated by how successful he can be in those starts.

[dew1679666265]

As we talk about an innings limit on Shark, it's nice to know that we have management in place who we can be confident will be serious about being careful with Shark's arm. The Hendry regime may or may not have shut him down, but it's good to know the Theo regime will save him for later seasons.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

As we talk about an innings limit on Shark, it's nice to know that we have management in place who we can be confident will be serious about being careful with Shark's arm. The Hendry regime may or may not have shut him down, but it's good to know the Theo regime will save him for later seasons.

 

I would like to think that the Hendry regime (and the Cubs organization) learned to manage pitch counts on a young starter after Wood AND Prior. Unfortunately after the Prior/Z wave they really only pushed out guys like Rich Hill and Randy Wells so we never really got to see if anything changed.

 

So far this year Shark has topped 110 once and thrown at least 110 twice. Once in his first start and the other in the White Sox start. I don't think he struggled at all in either start, and in the 16 innings he threw in them he walked 2 (threw 79 and 78 strikes).

 

Still say 160-ish is probably the number, but the fact that we're not a playoff team, he is surprisingly efficient, he's 27 and not 22, and he's such a good athlete makes me comfortable to go as high as 175 maybe even 180. Really depends on how they handle him over the course of the year, and I think Sveum is doing a fine job there.

[dew1679666265]

I would like to think that the Hendry regime (and the Cubs organization) learned to manage pitch counts on a young starter after Wood AND Prior. Unfortunately after the Prior/Z wave they really only pushed out guys like Rich Hill and Randy Wells so we never really got to see if anything changed.

 

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say there that I thought Hendry would not have shut him down, just that I'm more confident Theo will than that Hendry would have. And that makes me happy.

[KingCubsFan]

As we talk about an innings limit on Shark, it's nice to know that we have management in place who we can be confident will be serious about being careful with Shark's arm. The Hendry regime may or may not have shut him down, but it's good to know the Theo regime will save him for later seasons.

 

I would like to think that the Hendry regime (and the Cubs organization) learned to manage pitch counts on a young starter after Wood AND Prior. Unfortunately after the Prior/Z wave they really only pushed out guys like Rich Hill and Randy Wells so we never really got to see if anything changed.

They were very cautious with Andrew Cashner.

[jersey cubs fan]

As we talk about an innings limit on Shark, it's nice to know that we have management in place who we can be confident will be serious about being careful with Shark's arm. The Hendry regime may or may not have shut him down, but it's good to know the Theo regime will save him for later seasons.

 

I would like to think that the Hendry regime (and the Cubs organization) learned to manage pitch counts on a young starter after Wood AND Prior. Unfortunately after the Prior/Z wave they really only pushed out guys like Rich Hill and Randy Wells so we never really got to see if anything changed.

They were very cautious with Andrew Cashner.

 

I thought they were very risky with both of them, how they yanked them back and forth from starter to reliever and back.

[KingCubsFan]

As we talk about an innings limit on Shark, it's nice to know that we have management in place who we can be confident will be serious about being careful with Shark's arm. The Hendry regime may or may not have shut him down, but it's good to know the Theo regime will save him for later seasons.

 

I would like to think that the Hendry regime (and the Cubs organization) learned to manage pitch counts on a young starter after Wood AND Prior. Unfortunately after the Prior/Z wave they really only pushed out guys like Rich Hill and Randy Wells so we never really got to see if anything changed.

They were very cautious with Andrew Cashner.

 

I thought they were very risky with both of them, how they yanked them back and forth from starter to reliever and back.

They handled Samardzija pretty poorly, but they didn't really yank Cashner back and forth. He was a starter in the minors, came up in the bullpen in the majors (so he only increased his innings by about 11 from the previous year), and then 2011 happened. They definitely should have kept him as a starter longer in 2010 though. Although I don't think this was really a reflection of changed thinking on Hendry's part due to the past. If you read his comments on Wood retiring, it's pretty clear he still doesn't think highly of Prior.

[jersey cubs fan]

They handled Samardzija pretty poorly, but they didn't really yank Cashner back and forth. He was a starter in the minors, came up in the bullpen in the majors (so he only increased his innings by about 11 from the previous year), and then 2011 happened. They definitely should have kept him as a starter longer in 2010 though. Although I don't think this was really a reflection of changed thinking on Hendry's part due to the past. If you read his comments on Wood retiring, it's pretty clear he still doesn't think highly of Prior.

 

He was a college reliever who needed to be stretched out cautiously if they had hope of turning him into a major league starter, and 30-something starts into that process (when they were typically 3.5-5 inning starts) they abandoned it for a bunch of 1-inning relief innings. Then tried to make him a major league starter right after that. It was reckless.