Giants righty Jeff Samardzija has cleared revocable trade waivers, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. That means that the hurler can be freely dealt over the next few days — though he does also possess no-trade rights against all but eight MLB teams.
Just because Samardzija can now theoretically be traded doesn’t mean that a deal is likely, of course. His contract pays him $18MM annually for three more seasons, which helps explain why no other organizations placed a claim. And he not only has veto powers over deals to any teams except for the Angels, Athletics, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, Nationals, Red Sox, and Yankees, but has suggested he may be inclined to exercise those rights.
Beyond his contract, Samardzija’s trade appeal is also a matter of some debate. The 32-year-old has averaged an impressive 9.1 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9 over his 167 2/3 innings on the season, is throwing about as hard as ever, and he could top 200 frames for the fifth consecutive year. But he has also worked to a subpar 4.67 ERA.
Samardzija joins a long list of players that have reportedly cleared waivers, setting the stage for final negotiations with the deadline to add players with postseason eligibility looming at the end of the month. You can find them all at this link.
I don’t feel he is going anywhere. ❤️⚾️
Other than the ERA, and probably the contract a bit, he’d be a great pickup.
So would Jason Heyward
Dude Jason Heyward has never even given up a run! What are you talking about?!?
He means both are over priced BUMS !
Shark is just a little overpaid. Hey ward is WAY overpaid
Lol
Agreed but Heyward has time for improvement, Samardzija’s best days are behind him and they weren’t that good to begin with…Still, BOTH are not supplying the value of their contract. Between the two Heyward is the more valuable as his defense is stellar and his bat is SLOWLY turning around.
His FIP shows that he’s pitched significantly better than his ERA indicates.
Angels should make a play.
Um…no thanks. B-Ref indicates his annual salary for next 3 seasons will be $19.8M per year. That’s a lot of money for a pitcher who figures to decline over upcoming ages 32-35 seasons. Besides, SP really hasn’t been the issue in 2017 and isn’t the most pressing need next year. The team needs a power bat to keep pitchers from pitching around Trout.
The Angels need everything except for a SS, CF, and RF
Yeah, that’s why they’re in the playoff race a few wins off the Yankees.
Yea if you mean a few being 3..yet they have 5 more losses. They’re basically locked with Baltimore behind the Twins for the second WC. All those teams fighting for that second spot are certainly iffy…
yoyo–Every team could improve in multiple positions. Not really the point, or even very insightful.
The Angels were pummeled by injuries to both SP and RP, but the 2018 assortment of Richards/Skaggs/Shoemaker/Heaney/Martinez/Meyer/Bridwell means there are a couple of spares if one or two of the top 5 falter. Samardzija is far from a high priority for the team, and $19M a season for next 3 years takes away financial resources which would be used for more pressing needs. Highest would be an impact bat, either LF or 3B. The inconsistent offense has been the Angels’ biggest problem, not the pitching.
I wouldn’t expect him to decline, i think what you see is what you will get considering that he came to the game late as a starter, he came into the game as a bullpen guy and stayed that way for most of his career, so he has a lot more innings on his arm than most guys his age.
I’d rather have Shark than Lackey. And I feel he’d be better back in CHi.
No thanks, he can keep his HRs to himself.
It’s still unfathomable a guy with 170/26 K/BB has a 4.64 ERA (167.2IP; 26 GS)
1.21 WHIP and 24HR allowed
Not when he has allowed 24 HR’s in 26 starts. He has a solid K/BB ratio but has been serving up gopher balls all season.
Shark currently has a 4.67* ERA not 4.64, Sorry !
It still bewilders me he has 170 SO, only 26 BB but an 8-12 record 4.67 ERA to show for it, Regardless of the 24HR he gave up in 26GS.
Other factors came into play
his xfip is 3.45 which speaks volumes
Why? If he never walks anyone they’re there to be hit?
The picture looks like Shark was just told he cleared waivers.
Jays traded Liarano to Astros for outfield prospect Teoscar Hernández (and Aoki),, Maybe we can centre a trade package around him to acquire him for Samardzija and taking on some salary.
You never know in baseball.
Looking back on the Liriano to Toronto deal- the Jays got Ramirez, McGuire, Hernandez and Aoki for Hutchinson.
Jeff Samardzija might just be the best available option before September 1st for a questionable Cub rotation that could use some help down the stretch, to say nothing of 2018 and beyond. A reuniting with his former team, along that of pitching coach Chris Bosio, could be the tonic to what ails both “Shark” and the Cubs.
Samardzija enjoyed his best success with the Cubs prior to them becoming solid contenders and the 2016 World Series champs. I wouldn’t mind the front office adding ‘Shark” down the stretch and let him compete with “hot-head” John Lackey for a roster spot in October. Samardzija would also be a natural fit to take impending free agent Lackey’s #5 spot in the 2018 rotation while also allowing the Cubs to move southpaw Mike Montgomery back into the bullpen where he pitched so well last fall. Make is so, Theo!
Right? Thank you. Hit head Lackey is an understatement.
It’s easy to appreciate SP’s that possess average to above average offerings who can also throw strikes. It seems to me that when you have those two abilities, stuff and control, it’s easier to fix the third component of command in the strike zone. I think Chris Bosio had the most success with “Shark” as a Cub and he could do it again. At the worst, Samardzija is an inning eater as a #5 and less a “tool” than John Lackey.
How Lackey gets a pass with his “hissy fits” on the mound whenever a teammate makes an error behind him while Miguel Montero got crucified for throwing some pitchers under the bus for not holding runners on is beyond me? How would Lackey like it if his teammates showed him up or called him out every time he grooved a pitch to an opposing hitter? As far as I’m concerned, the Cub position players have supplied him with far more offensive and defensive support than what he’s given them in the way of quality pitching.
As much as I dislike manager Joe Maddon at times, Lackey has also disrespected him on occasions when he comes out to the mound to make a pitching change. He also does no favors to himself or his teammates by whining to the home plate umpire on every border line call that doesn’t go his way. As I said, this guy is a “hot head” and would have no place on a team I ran. He is not the veteran I want setting an example for the young players on my roster.
I’m all for bring Shark back, but for who Zagunis? Hatch?, I mean Cubs don’t have deep talent in minors
Cubs wouldn’t have to give up any of those guys. The value the Giants would be getting is getting Samardzija’s contract off the books.
you gotta feel bad for samardzija for his time with the cubs, I mean the guy for most of his last season there had a sub 1.0 era and got his first win in something like july? it was kind of insane how bad the cubs were behind him.
Giants have pretty bare cupboards in the minors. Salary relief and a bag of Cheetos would be welcome.
True
He may be an Lackey but he still better than Sammy !
Better chance of him playing wide-out for 9ers than another team touching that contract…..
I wish I could get the kind of benefit of the doubt in my own life that Samardzija gets. Except for 2014 he has been very mediocre as a starter in his career but the way they talk about him on here you’d think he’s a top 10 pitcher in MLB
Nothing but the truth. Some people here have actually told me he isn’t even overpaid
Ha! Those are Giants fans who are still trying to convince themselves the FO hasn’t completely f-ed over the team yet. Even as a Giants fan I hated that signing the moment I heard rumors about it. When neither Chicago team wants you, you know you’re no good
To this day I don’t understand how he got $90 million in free agency. I mean the dude posted an ERA near 5 in his walk year
Goes to show you that HEALTHY, innings eating pitchers are in hi-demand. Look what’s happening with Mike Leake right now…. Baseball is such a money making business employers can cut pay checks like this to players like The Shark and not miss a beat. He needs to pitch like a near ace for close to 100 mil., I doubt that will ever happen but wish him much success in trying!
He could still the best wide receiver on the Bears.
ha!
Ain’t that the truth.
It’s a shame what happened to young Cam Meredith in the Bears third preseason game on Sunday. He is a local kid with a lot of promise who suffered a gruesome knee injury that will ended his season prematurely and could impact his career as well. God speed to him. If he could throw a baseball, perhaps Meredith could help the Cubs down the line. It worked for ‘Shark” who also got paid handsomely and has retained his health in MLB, something less likely had he pursued a career as an NFL wide-out after leaving Notre Dame.
Blah blah football blah blah
If the Giants hadn’t overpaid , he’d of been a Cub(again) for 15 per
His facial expression perfectly sums the situation up
32 years old, 2 seasons out of 6 with a WAR above 2, never a single year over 3 WAR. There is just no value there. He is what he is, I don’t get why they think he’s suddenly going to turn into Tom Seaver.
Jeff Samardzija’s salary would be commensurate with that of a mid-rotation starter in the current market which he is on the San Francisco Giants along with Matt Moore, both slotting behind Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto (currently on DL) when healthy.
In the instance of a trade to the Cubs and for the remainder of this season Samardzija would compete with John Lackey as the #5 starter and more likely join him as the backend 5/6 since the team likes employing a 6-man rotation late in the season to keep all their arms fresh for another potentially prolonged postseason. Next season, “Shark” would slot in as the Cubs #4 starter behind Jon Lester, Jose Quintana and Kyle Hendricks with both Jake Arrieta and Lackey headed to free agency
Giants aren’t trading him. He wants to stay there, and SF gets married to its players for better or worse. The entire organization and its fan base are still going through withdrawal from non-tendering Gregor Blanco last winter, so the wound is too fresh to even think of trading Samarzdija.
I would think you were joking but the team employs Mike Moorse so it has to be true
Giants don’t sign players, they marry them, and divorce is NOT an option no matter how bad it gets. When was the last time you remember SF trading a starting player on their major league roster?
Eduardo Nunez, like 3 weeks ago…
Not a starter and they basically had to trade him. Solaris611 has a point. The Giants do tend to be VERY loyal to their players, even those who don’t deserve it.
He was their starting 3rd baseman…but I do see solaris’ point. And I agree with u that they are super loyal to their players (I just wish that made them more attractive to free agents)
Matt Duffy
You mean how they continue rolling Matt Cain out on his “career achievement tour” to give up 8 runs in 2/3 of an inning ? Can’t they atleast just give him a gold watch and a mystery injury trip to the DL for the next month ?
Agreed
Wouldn’t mind seeing the Os make this happen
I read the other day that 4 years ago Samardzija slammed the Cubs FO for trading away Scott Feldman. Even tho Feldman was clearly signed with the intention of flipping him at the deadline and even tho the guy they got for Feldman ended up working out pretty well for them.
Why criticize Jeff Samardzija for wanting to win?
Scott Feldman was a solid pitcher for the Cubs in 2013 up until he was dealt in early July to the Baltimore Orioles in what turned out to be one of the best deals in the history of the franchise. Nobody knew “4 years ago” Jake Arrieta would evolve into a Cy Young Award winning pitcher, not you, me or “Shark”.
Almost a year later to that date, Samardzija found himself in the same boat as his buddy Feldman and became a footnote in another landmark trade for the Cubs when they acquired SS prospect Addison Russell from the Oakland A’s. That’s baseball…
I never have and I never will criticize Jeff Samardzija for WANTING TO WIN..
Maybe the Cubs should go for Samardzija, if and only if the Giants were willing to eat most of the salary.
They’re not. For the first time in a while, they’re not flush with cash or luxury cap space. And with huge holes to fill and limitted internal options, they’ll be shopping unfortunately.
I love this picture.