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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.