Chicago Cubs Rumors: Former Cubs hurler Jeff Samardzija clears waivers

Former Chicago Cubs hurler Jeff Samardzija cleared waivers on Monday and his former club is one of a handful of teams he is unable to block a trade to.

With the waiver deadline nearing, the San Francisco Giants successfully passed right-hander Jeff Samardzija through waivers. How likely a trade is remains to be seen. That being said, one of his former teams, the Chicago Cubs, are a notable exception to his no-trade list.

The Cubs originally drafted the former Notre Dame football standout back in the day. He spent a good chunk of his career on the North Side, as well. Eventually, he was packaged in the deal that brought Addison Russell to Chicago.

With Jake Arrieta poised for a major payday at season’s end and John Lackey likely to retire, the Cubs’ rotation could lose two big pieces. Now, they may go out and bring back one of these arms, but if they don’t, there are a lot of question marks heading into 2018.

Samardzija, under team control through the 2020 season, has upside – he always has. Here’s the latest on the Giants’ right-hander – and the odds he returns to the Windy City.

Leadoff hitters attacking Shark

It’s hard to come up with a major glaring issue in Samardzija’s game. That’s not to say we can’t find plenty of things that need attention, but let’s start with what we know.

Chicago Cubs

Leadoff hitters have absolutely massacred the right-hander to the tune of a .357/.375/.667 line (1.042 OPS). Cleanup hitters have been a major concern, as well, putting up a 1.007 OPS. At the end of the day, though, his team lives and dies by his performance.

In his losses, he owns a 7.00 ERA and opponents have a .916 OPS. In his victorious performances, however, he limited hitters to a .245 average and .647 OPS. As has always been the case, Samardzija boasts an impressive repertoire.

But, as we’ve seen in the past, he needs to get ahead of hitters – but do so intelligently. You can’t get float pitches in to get ahead of batters.

With an OPS north of .900 on the first pitch (and even higher when he falls behind), this is the most glaring weakness in his game this year.

The easiest way to dig yourself out of a hole? Quit digging.

Don’t dust off those old jerseys just yet

Yes, the Chicago Cubs need pitching that’s controllable past 2017.

No, Jeff Samardzija is not that answer.

Very little has changed for him since he left Chicago. In fact, a lot of the same problems linger on for the right-hander. He’s got the stuff, but not the results. He’s eating innings, but failing to prevent runs consistently. He strikes out batters and limits walks, yet is hit-or-miss more often than not.

Everything on that list represents exactly what the Chicago Cubs do not need. Inconsistency in the pitching staff has been a concern for this year’s team for a good while now. Adding another such arm to the mix makes no sense.

Given the price tag he comes with and the mixed bag of results, Jeff Samardzija will likely finish up his career in San Francisco. He’ll eat innings and he’ll notch strikeouts. But we have no reason to believe he’ll ever be the ace so many have hoped he’d turn into.

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