“But the Giants addressed their most pressing need “ a durable, innings-munching starting pitcher “ when they agreed to terms with Samardzija on a five-year, $90 million contract Saturday.
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Despite his 4.96 ERA with the Chicago White Sox last season, Samardzija ate up 214 innings.
If there was a place where Samardzija could get his career back on track that isn’t the Chicago Cubs, the Giants with Dave Righetti at pitching coach are it.
The San Francisco Giants were looking at a starting rotation that would lose Tim Lincecum, Tim Hudson and Mike Leake this offseason, so they ventured into the free agent market and made a significant investment to bolster their starting pitching.
This was the third large contract for a pitcher this week. Plus, it helps that the Giants’ AT&T Ballpark is very pitcher friendly, having spacious dimensions all around the park that will limit home runs.
The Giants hope they are getting the Samardzija that more closely resembled the 2014 version. There may be some mechanical adjustments he needs to make.
“There”s a lot of innings left on that arm,” Evans said.
The deal also costs the Giants their first-round draft pick in 2016 because the White Sox tendered Samardzija a qualifying offer.
While all of those numbers indicate that Samardzija may not be worth such a sizeable investment, he does bring stability and durability to a Giants rotation hampered by injuries and inconsistencies in recent seasons.
The Cubs reached an agreement with Lackey on a two-year, $32 million deal, an industry source confirmed Friday, hours before Greinke stunned the baseball world by turning down the Dodgers and ending his partnership with Clayton Kershaw.
“The reality is we”ll face him a number of times,” Evans said. Samardzija, who will be 31 next month, will average $18 million a season in spite of a statistically poor 2015 in which his ERA was almost 5.
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“Victory would have been the American League – or Japan”.
