Why Giants Fans Should be Optimistic About Samardzija

Following a less than memorable one-year stint with the Chicago White Sox, Jeff Samardzija now finds himself rocking orange and black with the San Francisco Giants via a 5/$90M contract inked in December.

The initial reaction was that the Giants far overpaid in their attempts to reel in the Shark. Although Samardzija was one of baseball’s gems in 2014, it would be safe to say that, on the surface, he far failed to meet expectations. Over the course of the 2015 campaign, Samardzija put up a 4.96 ERA, gave up a career-high and league-leading 29 home runs and 228 hits and had his the third lowest SO/9 in his career.

Samardzija also had difficulty controlling his curveball and slider during the 2015 season. While he was in the zone more often, some of these pitches were thrown right in the wheelhouse of opposing hitters, amounting to opposing pitchers hitting .294 against his breaking pitches. For comparison, in 2014, hitters batted a mere .211, a clear tale of two years.

Outside of his actual on-field productivity, Samardzija is also 31 years of age, and, should he stick around until the end of his contract, it’s difficult to believe that the fastball velocity he so heavily will stick around.

For Giants fans have a right to be uncertain about an unproductive Samardzija in the coming years, especially considering they aren’t too far out from the horrendous Zito contract only a few years prior.

For fair reasons, the San Francisco faithful had a right to bat an eye or two at the deal.

While the Shark may be coming off one of the most forgettable seasons of his career, there are plenty of reasons for the Giants to be incredibly optimistic about the upcoming season for the Shark.

For starters, Samardzija is no inheriting one of the best defenses in baseball. Last year, the Giants ranked first in Defensive Efficiency Ratio (.708) while committing the fourth least amount of errors (78). Compared that to last year’s White Sox, who were absolutely abysmal on defense, 28th in Defensive Efficiency Ratio (.675), and committed the 7th most errors in the league (101). Along with the Giants already fabulous defense, the acquisition of Denard Span, a two-time Wilson Defensive Player of the Year. In short, the Shark should be more than open to accepting his new defensive squad.

Giants fans are also getting a workhorse out of the Shark. In the past three season, Samardzija has exceeded the 200 inning mark, and last year, he was 5th in the league in total innings pitched (214.0).

Let’s also not forget the pitcher-friendly confines of AT&T Park. Of the 29 homers that he allowed last season, 17 came at U.S. Cellular Field. Being a fly-ball pitcher in the hitter-friendly confines of that ballpark wasn’t exactly a match made in heaven. On the flip side, last year, AT&T was the single toughest place to knock one out of the park. At a rate of .599, the gap between AT&T and the second toughest ballpark (Turner Field) was .121.

Finally, there’s the man who had been with the real for a decade and a half; Dave Righetti. Already established himself as one of the premier pitching coaches in baseball (ironically, in this case, right next to White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper) nothing calms the waters like a mound visit from Rags. Throw in his proven track record, as shown by the past couple years of fantastic arms the Giants have produced, as the Shark is walking into a great situation.

While the prospect of possibly bringing back memories of horrendous 2007 contracts may come about, Giants fans should be nothing less than excited about the arm that will help bolster the rotation.

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