After two years of bouncing back and forth from the bullpen to the rotation (and from Iowa to the Cubs), Jeff Samardzija finally found a home this year, in the pen.
Pretty much forced to keep him on the active roster, the Cubs stuck Samardzija in the pen with generally great results. He's pitched in 73 games (so far), throwing 86.2 IP and striking out 86. The only knock against him is his 5.1 BB/9 ratio, however, that is offset by his career low 6.3 H/9.
Overall a pretty successful season for the flame-throwing righthander.
So, it should come as no surprise that the Cubs are once again considering moving him back to the rotation.
And it should also come as no surprise that I think that Cubs management is insane for even considering this.
Yes, the Cubs are hard up for starting pitching. This season has seen the Cubs use 10 different starting pitchers, mostly as a result of injuries to projected starters Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner.
The Cubs' lack of pitching depth has been a sore spot for me all season and the 4.87 ERA posted by the starters is just pathetic. With Carlos Zambrano unlikely to return and Ryan Dempster's status for 2012 also up in the air, the Cubs could be left with Matt Garza and a bunch of question marks.
However, even with all the problems with the Cubs starters, I would pass on converting Shark back to starting.
The fact is that Jeff has had the most success as a reliever, from his 27.2 IP major league debut in 2008, when he posted a 2.28 ERA (all in relief), to this season. He has a career ERA of 7.77 as a starter (albeit in just 5 major league starts) and his minor league starts, which came mostly as a starter, are nothing to write home about.
Bottom line: Why try to fix what ain't broke? Leave him in the bullpen. Its where he belongs.
it's hard for me to have any credible opinion on the shark after claiming last year that he would never amount to anything in the big leagues, but the fact is samardzija is a completely different pitcher this year. at the beginning of the year i was completely on board with you as far as just letting jeff stick to relief, but after seeing him this year i think the cubs are doing themselves a disservice if they don't try to convert him back. with a fastball, slider and splitter all working well, he can be an effective starter and that is simply much more valuable to the team. if he was just a two pitch pitcher, then let him stick to relief. i just see too much upside now that he has actually discovered how to throw strikes in some sort of consistent fashion. with the cubs pitching depth, i think they have to try it out.
ReplyDeleteHe wants to be a starter so give him a shot.
ReplyDeleteI watched hime this year and he looked really good....He just had a couple bad outings. You take them away and his era would be outstanding.
He readly admits this is the first year that he knows how to pitch.
The role of management in any sport is to put players in a position to succeed, but the Cubs too often do the opposite. Talk of Samardzija and Marshall moving to the rotation is ridiculus. They have already failed in these roles and work well out of the pen. Leave them there.
ReplyDeleteha and i am completely in favor of moving marshall to the rotation as well. when marshall was given his "shot" it was what, his rookie season? he could barely strike a guy out, much less post the elite k/bb numbers that he has the past couple of years. like samardzija, marshall's a completely different pitcher these days, and with more life on his fastball than when they tried him starting earlier in his career, not to mention the additional breaking ball he's added. marshall would be a quality major league starter, and that is just simply more valuable than even the most elite setup man.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an overreaction to one? good season. On half a year we're moving guys into the rotation, this smacks of desperate for starters...
ReplyDeletehttp://wwwbookdiplomacy.blogspot.com/
if we're not desperate for starters, what are we?
ReplyDelete