Giants righty Jeff Samardzija held an interesting chat with MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. In large part, it’s a lengthy discussion of Samardzija’s multi-sport background and decision to pursue baseball professionally — which, he says, was driven more by interest than any considerations of the health implications of playing in the NFL. The San Francisco hurler likens the game of baseball to a “big painting you put together” and hints he could still have some masterpieces in his brush. He also suggests he’s not yet thinking about the end: “Where’s the end of the wick? Who knows? Let’s find out. That’s the fun of it all.”
More from the NL West:
- As the Padres consider roster options, the club is looking to squeeze some added utility out of certain players. Infielder Christian Villanueva, in particular, will be tried out as a backup option at short, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell (via Twitter). The 26-year-old, who’s out of options, has played all of 14 innings at short as a professional. But after he posted a .296/.369/.528 slash at Triple-A last year, the Pads seem to be looking for ways to hang onto Villanueva.
- In other Padres news, the organization is seeing promising signs from injured hurlers Robbie Erlin and Colin Rea, per Cassavell. The Tommy John recoverees are certainly interesting players to watch this spring, as both have shown their talent at times in the past. Erlin, it’s worth noting, is well ahead of Rea in the rehab process, though both are well over a year removed from their procedures. Both are part of a long list of pitching possibilities in Padres camp, as reflected in the current organizational depth chart over at Roster Resource.
- It seems one area of focus this spring for the Rockies is finding a way to swipe a few more bags. As Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports, the club is particularly interested to see whether the fleet-footed Raimel Tapia can learn to translate his speed into stolen bases. Just as interesting as the efforts on the bases, it seems there’s at least some hope that Tapia could hold down a spot at the top of the lineup. That seems a bit of a questionable fit, as the young outfielder doesn’t walk much and is therefore quite reliant upon maintaining a lofty batting average on balls in play to get on base. While lineup construction is hardly the most consequential issue facing the Rox, it seems worth noting that second baseman DJ LeMahieu has led the club in OBP in each of the past two seasons and would seem to be a sensible fit in the leadoff spot.
I feel like Villenueva is going to have a big breakout when ever he gets his chance. HIs career reminds me a lot of Dondaldson’s. Not saying that kind of break out but the guy is just as talented as Headly. Great defender, soft hands, nice gap stroke.
I’d like to see the White Sox pick him up. He could get some serious playing time and potentially be apart of a dynamic young core. A perfect fit.
Won’t happen they won’t dfa him
He’s going to eventually be the starting 3rd baseman. You can’t keep a bat like that out of the lineup.
Love that picture of Samardzija. It’s like he just saw a ghost.
I am so sick of the bs about samardzija’s football career.
He should have stuck with it. Baseball isn’t his game. Dude is garbage!
True, he’s only made millions upon millions of dollars with this career choice
Garbage? I don’t think you’ve looked at his career holistically. He’ll give you innings and Ks. Durable pitchers are so hard to find in today’s game. Download mlb atbat and look at his track record.
That might be your own odor you’re smelling
Football contracts aren’t guaranteed and football careers are really short. Samrdzija has made 63 million dollars playing baseball; he’s have never made that playing in the NFL. something like half of NFL players are broke 5 years after leaving the league. Every single NFL owner made at least 40 million dollars in profit last year. The Shark made the right choice.
If Samardzija made the same contract in the NFL as he’s making with the Giants, he’d be making almost similar money to Tom Brady.
In reality, he wouldn’t sniff the kind of money he’s currently making if he played in the NFL. He most certainly made the right choice.
Yeah, exactly. And that’s a huge problem with the NFL; the players are absurdly underpaid.
NFL players dont go broke because theyre underpaid they go broke because they have shorter careers because it’s such a violent game.
Yes, which is why they should be paid more, or at least have guaranteed contracts.
Ttinsley has never posted anything showing an ounce of intelligence. Can we please avoid responding to him/her/it.
what claude said. don’t feed the trolls.
This is the same guy who called the LoMo signing “garbage”
Don’t get trolled guys.
BTW, any pitcher that has 205K, and 32 walks, in 207.2 IP isn’t garbage.
His 9-15 record, and 4.42 ERA can be attributed to having one of the worst, if not worst OF backing him.
Samardzija’s 3.61 FIP, and 3.60 xFIP also show how unlucky his 2017 was. (Probably the unluckiest pitcher!)
Look at his numbers a little closer, not that bad really !
Villanueva is nearly a lock to make the Opening Day roster in my opinion. All he has done so far at the end of 17′ and so far this spring is rake.
It would be stupid for the organization to be giving a guy like Chase Headley at-bats over Villanueva when they are still technically in rebuild mode. They need to continue to see what they have in Villanueva because if given the chance he has shown he can play. Got squeezed out of CHC because of the talent they had at the position at the time. Tough to get looks when you have Bryant and Candelario blocking you.
Headley is going to be s very expensive platoon piece/ bench bat, but that’s okay because he netted the organization a couple years of Bryan Mitchell for cheap, who could also very likely be a pleasant surprise for SD. Mitchell also fell victim to the roster crunch of a very talented NYY system.
Mitchell fell victim to a lot of things during his tenure with NYY. But it all comes down to one word: Awful.
Good news is he has a 96 MPH four seamer.
There appears to be one of two things at play here:
A) Preller actually wants to use Headley as our 3rd baseman for some reason.
or
B) No one sees Headley as any kind of asset. Not even if we pay down most of his contract.
Preller really should trade Headley at this point if the other team is willing to take even like $3m of his contract. Like Galvis, he has no value to us being a free agent at the end of the year. But at least Galvis is a good clubhouse guy and isn’t stealing playing time from anyone important.
Again with the “clubhouse guy” like you know who is and who isn’t.
Funny stuff..how about the overused “our” like he’s part of decision making.
Agreed. I can not take someone’s opinion seriously when they use “we” “our” or “us”. Especially when they, them, their and they’re are just as easy to use.
I’ve come to believe noting someone as a “clubhouse guy” is just a way to justify keeping a bad player on a roster….
“Sure, he’s not hitting very well, but he’s a good presence in the clubhouse.”
The worst is “there’s no way we” stating of course they have the last word. The all time best is “he’s a great guy and he’s gonna” of course they know him personally…
The only people who can really say “we” when referring to their team are Green Bay Packers fans
I made that point one time and got blitzed…
Again with the brain dead comments.
I can not take someone’s opinion seriously when they condescend.
Headley is a league-average player at a position that is hard to fill. Somebody has to play third base. I don’t really get the hate. He’s a 2-win player being paid appropriately.
I don’t know if you notived this about “fans” on this site, but the general line of thought is if you’re not the best, you’re garbage. And if you’re not underpaid, you’re overpaid.
Agreed. Headley might not be a superstar but he is still a solid player. He can play a solid 1st and was seen as well above average at 3rd during his first stint in San Diego. He was said to be willing to shift to 2nd, as well. If he can be somewhat passable at 2nd he could very easily become one of the best super utility guys in the league. He seems to be one of those players that always puts the team first and doesn’t complain. There are several players that would have demanded a trade when their team brought in someone to play their position halfway through the season like the Yankees did with Frazier. Headley seemed to take it in stride, took over first and had a very good second half.
lol, finally someone said it.
The reality is: every single player in the majors and minors (except Tebow) was the best baseball player on every team in their lives. None of them are overpaid, its the nonsensical system of paying players that pollutes the minds of fans into thinking in those terms. Even Ellsbury isn’t a bad player at all, he’s just a $10M player making $21M. But he also “made” $2.4M in a year where he basically was MVP and had 8+ WAR.
Also, seems like NO ONE on this site actually understands how small the take home pay is after everyone (agents, govt) gets a cut. I said Ellsbury “made” $2.4 but his take home pay that year was probably closer to $800K. When you take into consideration that a million dollars is not enough to set you up for life anymore, it becomes apparent that anyone who has a negative opinion on athlete salaries is just totally missing every point there is.
Once again, good stuff
Use Villanueva. Easy. This is still technically a rebuilding year so let him sink or swim.
@thecoffinnail you apparently aren’t familiar with Headley’s comments on the San Diego Padres organization after he was traded in 2014.
Not sure what he said four years ago is relevant now.
The public has a long memory
Yea San Diego is really up to date on Headley comments from 4 years ago like who knows and who cares. Where do you come up with this nonsense
hurrrrr where do you come up with this nonsense hurrrrr
*fart noises*
That you see Galvis as a player with no value just baffles me. He’s no all star, but hes an improvement over what they had, and easily resignable.
Exactly. Galvis isn’t good, but the Padres have literally not had a shortstop in years. Last year they were running Erick Aybar out there. At least Galvis can play the position.
And they won’t have a shortstop next year either unless Tatis sticks, which could have happened without trading for Galvis. What did they have to lose by playing Aybar or Escobar at SS in 2018 other than games they were going to lose anyway?
He does have no value to the Padres you nitwit! He’s a free agent and they won’t contend. And as for the “easily resignable” thing, he would have been easily signable if they hadn’t traded for him.
Name calling Ryan “NL West not that good”
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Samardzjia is one of the most underrated players in the game. No one throws 200+ innings anymore, but he’s done it every year the last 5 years. Health is so huge in the game now, giving those innings to Shark instead of pairing a higher ceiling guy like say, Strasburg, with some AAAA scrub, it almost equals it out when all is said and done.
The floor of Samardzija is the highest because he will actually give you 200 innings when no one else will, only Scherzer has more innings since ’13, but everyone recognizes his greatness – Shark is really underrated based on this line of thought.
Good stuff JTO. I feel like he’s poised to have an all star season
End of the day- villanueva should be the starting 3B on opening day.
Should be villanueva galvis asuaje/spangenberg hosmer around the horn.
Headley can be an expensive platoon/backup for the OFs 3B and 1B. Pirela can be a super utility guy.
Not sure Headley is a good OF fit – dude is seriously slow. He’s okay in the corner infield spots.
Whether Tapia has the profile to bat leadoff would seem to be secondary to the question of where would he play? He is pretty clearly 4th on the OF depth chart at best, and that’s assuming Cargo doesn’t end up back with the Rockies.
Couldnt have found a better photo of Samardzija? Idiots
Villanueva is definitely making the opening day roster. Unless Headley gets traded he will probably start at 3b as long as he plays decently. I’m struggling to predict the Padres opening day lineup because so much in the air still
Agreed, I’m hoping Villanueva makes the opening day roster as a super utility guy. He showed well last year and is keeping up the pace in Spring Training so far. If Headley starts to struggle or is traded, he can start at 3b.
I think he will. I’m still hoping they can trade headly to the braves or something. Eating half that contract wouldn’t be too bad
Rea was shut down this morning with a sore right shoulder