The Cardinals have interest in free agent starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman also mentioned the Cardinals’ interest in Samardzija earlier today. The Cards finished second in the bidding for new Red Sox ace David Price, and it appears they see Samardzija as a possible alternative.
Multiple reports have indicated that Samardzija has already received offers of $90MM or more, so it doesn’t appear likely he’ll be cheap despite a 4.96 ERA season with the White Sox. Samardzija is, however, just 30 and still in possession of mid-90s velocity, and he had a great 2014 season with the Cubs and Athletics. He has also pitched at least 210 innings in each of the last three seasons. The Cubs have recently shown interest in a reunion with Samardzija, although that interest has likely diminished, at least to a degree, now that they’ve signed 2015 Cardinal John Lackey.
The Cardinals rotation had a 2.99 ERA in 2015, easily the best in baseball, and they figure to add a full season of Adam Wainwright next season. After Lackey’s departure, Lance Lynn’s Tommy John surgery, and the 50-game suspension of prospect Alex Reyes, however, they’re still a bit thin on starting pitching.
Ha. Yeah right.
The cardinals should not want Jeff on a long term deal.
I’d rather see them go after Mike Leake, but Shark wouldn’t be the worst option. I’d like to see them increase the AAV but give him only a 3 or 4 year contract, though I’m sure he already has a 5 year offer somewhere.
I still think Cardinals are better off resigning Heyward then getting a 4th or 5th rotation option, or trading for a SP that’s controllable.
Someone like Miller?
Ha, I’ll trade you Heyward for him.. .Oh Wait.
I hope you sensed the sarcasm behind that.
Yeah right about now we could use someone like him. Oh well.
honestly, I know Miller is the hot commodity right now, but I do not miss him. As a cards fan, I’d love to see the cubs trade for him.
I don’t want long term deals on mediocre pitchers. I’d much rather do Kazmir or Fister than Samar or Leake
id rather see Hisashi Iwakuma
He’s not a 100m dollar man, the the way he pitched last year
He could have pitched like Arrieta and won the al Cy Young and still wouldn’t be 100m $ man. No team should offer him more then 60mil for 5 years. That’s still 12mil AAV and its still well over paying.
If he really has a 100 Million contract on the table I’ll bet it’s 100Million over ten years. Come on.. he is not worth 100 million and the Cardinals (of all teams) would NOT consider paying that high for a pitcher of his caliber.
All of these teams vying for Shark have access to his stats and game film, right? With his track record, he should be getting half of what’s being reported for him.
900k. if he performs he gets the rest…lol
A track record of pitching 200+ innings doesn’t come cheap.
200 innings at a 79 ERA+ is pretty worthless.
He’s gone over 170 innings four times and had one great season, one average one, and two awful ones. He should be maxing out at 4/60, imo, or a one year rebuilding deal.
Should have re-signed Lackey for the 2 years! damnit!!! Samardzija is not worth that crazy money!!!
Ill guarantee they offer Samardzija 5 years at 60 Million and he will probably take it.
huh?? hes already turned down a 100mil offer!
So he says..
you know, if they offered Shark 5/60 and he took it, that wouldn’t be such a terrible risk. He has a lot of upside and not a lot of mileage on his arm, that could pay off big.
I would NOT offer him more than that though.
Cards fans better hope Theo doesn’t have another SP move up his hat.
As a Cards fan, I hate this deal, I want no part of Samardjiza on a long term deal. I will say that Nightengale is from St Louis, and was all over the price to St Louis stuff, so he certainly does have some connections to the cardinals but I really hope this is wrong.
Everyone was a little surprised that the Cards were reported to be the runner up for Price, at least it wasn’t nationally known. I find it interesting that all the sudden they are reporting to be interested in the Shark. Don’t believe it for a minute, and I don’t think Theo does either. The Shark signs with the Cubs before Monday for $18M per leaving the Cards to scramble for Cueto losing to LA. Print it!
Scramble? Wainwright, Martinez, Wacha, Garcia, Lyons, Cooney is plenty good. They went after Price because they have coveted him for quite awhile. The Cardinals aren’t signing a pitcher because they have to. They can compete with the team they have.
Cardinal Fans, I’m sorry, but you can’t expect a leopard to change his spots!!! John Mozelack (sp?) will not be a top bidder for Heyward, Chris David, Grinke, or any other top tiered player that could make a strong impact immediately. Never has, never will. I hope I’m proven wrong, but I see this from him and the Cardinals year after Year!!! Same song and dance. Mo is the best second place bidder in the business. That’s so he can hope, people will say, at least he tried!!! If he can’t get something done out of this huge FA talent……then I say, get rid of him!!!!!
If in Mozeliak’s tenure people only see missed free agent signings, they’re really looking at the wrong place. He took over an old team that wasn’t very good and had a terrible farm system. In 8 years his team has went to the playoffs 6 times (5 consecutive), went to the NLCS 4 times, and won a World Series. All while turning one of baseball’s worst talent producing system into one of baseball’s best.
He did this all while maintaining a competitive team on the field. He didn’t have the luxury of tanking for high draft picks and trading anything with value for future talent. Mozeliak is one of the best GM’s in baseball.
Only the Cards could be like “our rotation currently consists of Wainwright/Wacha/Martinez/Garcia/Lyons/Cooney/Gonzales, it’s in shambles!”
Ugh. Shame on them and their never ending prospect development.
Please take him. I like most of even all cubs fans do not want samardjiza back.
Let’s see,
$90m for probably 5 years.
4.9x era.
I figured I’d have an era around 8.
I’d settle for 5 years and $5m
Leake should be priority before this guy. He’s not proven at all, is over-valued by saber community, and he’s got a draft pick attached. Mo, what are you thinking?
Mo is not going to offer him a 100 mill contract unless he signs for 10 years. They are better off paying Johnny Cueto (which I would hate).
Sigh.
Leake. Kazmir. the Sea Sp that has not signed. (sorry, cant type his name , my comment gets stalked by the mod.) the guy that was just posted…ANY of them over Samardzija.
I get that the cardinals have this system of not spending big but investing in a front line starter should be something they invest in, the Cubs have Lester and arrieta, and the cardinals would look great if they had Waino, Greinke and Wacha I mean they have the money we all know that and if they wanna get back to the World Series they need to spend a little bit to move past the LCS
every year seems the cardinals need an innings eater. go out and sign a pitcher that can win ballgames, not just fill a spot in the rotation.
They only won 100 games. I wonder how good they’d be if they had a pitcher that could “win ballgames”
at least 28 of those wins came in relief,
So are the Cards trying to drive the price up on the Cubs, or are they interested and Theo’s now going to “jump back in” to drive up the price? If the Cards don’t get Cueto, they’re screwed, and if the Cubs sign another of what’s left not named Cueto, St Louis is definitely screwed. Truthbomb.
Cueto and the Cardinals sort of…. dislike each other. He’s not signing with them.
Why dont the cards try to trade for freeman and tehran. 2 birds in one trade. Then sign heyward or gordon.trade jay and adams in that trade or somewhere else
Do you understand how difficult it would be to just get Freeman or just get Teheran? Both would take a major haul, one that Mozeliak is certainly not willing to give up.
Jeff Samardzija:
#2 stuff
#5 results
#1 ego
Pass…
Birds should get leake, Chen, one of J. Heyward, J. Upton or A. Gordon. Also need to pursue C. Davis
I wouldn’t mind signing Ian Desmond, moving Carp to second, Peralta to third, then trading Wong, Adams, and a minor league pitcher for a 1B……maybe Freeman lol