The Jeff Samardzija Defenestration Thread

[Slaky]

I don't care if they pay him or not. I would be disappointed if they try to win with him on the staff an no one better.  Shark as your ace isn't a very good team.  Shark as 3 or 4? Very good team.

I think having an ace is an overrated idea anyway. 5 strong pitchers, a sick bullpen, and three guys that can destroy the ball in the middle of the lineup? I'll take my chances.

[Tony]

I don't care if they pay him or not. I would be disappointed if they try to win with him on the staff an no one better.  Shark as your ace isn't a very good team.  Shark as 3 or 4? Very good team.

You're right that Shark as an ace means the team isn't very good, but him as a 3 or 4 is probably expecting a bit much from your staff. He's a number two. (poop joke!)

[Powdered Toast Man]

I don't care if they pay him or not. I would be disappointed if they try to win with him on the staff an no one better.  Shark as your ace isn't a very good team.  Shark as 3 or 4? Very good team.

I think having an ace is an overrated idea anyway. 5 strong pitchers, a sick bullpen, and three guys that can destroy the ball in the middle of the lineup? I'll take my chances.

This is putting the cart before the horse, but I read that the moves of Rivero and Vizcaino to AAA could eventually mean that once they get called to Chicago (this year!!!), the Cubs could so choose to stretch out Justin Grimm and Neil Ramirez as starters.

This is where I will give Chris Bosio an IAN boner of approval. He's done an exceptional job with the young pitchers so far. I don't know how that's directly measured or attributable to him other than he's the pitching coach and it seems like the Cubs young pitchers are responding and producing very well.

So, I see guys like Grimm and Ramirez who throw the baseball through the catcher's mitt like Arrieta can (this is where I'm getting ahead of myself, because Arrieta's sample is kinda small for this success, but the indicators are very good) and it makes me BELIEVE IT CAN HAI. Or at least, I don't hate the idea of it.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Because he's an ugly, overrated pudwhack with woman hair who played football for Notre Dame. We've been over this.

All true except the bolded. In fact, I'd still say it's the opposite.

Guy wants $22mm per year, in-line with the top pitchers in baseball.  Similarity scores:

1. Juan Cruz (977)
2. Calvin Schiraldi (976)
3. Kevin Correia (975)
4. Carlos Villanueva (970)
5. Bill Swift (970)
6. Dave Stewart (969)
7. Mark Grant (969)
8. Ron Schueler (968)
9. Renie Martin (967)
10. Willie Fraser (964)

Career ERA+ of 102.
Pitched 200 innings once in his career.
1.0 WAR pitcher in his 200+ inning season.

But people think he's awesome.

That sounds like textbook overrated to me.

I think he's hoping for that money based on future performance, not past.

Part of the point of similarity scores is to give a sense of a what a reasonable future trajectory might be for a given player.

Which I guess means a bit of inner conflict for Pex...

1. Juan Cruz (977)

[PenFoe]

I don't care if they pay him or not. I would be disappointed if they try to win with him on the staff an no one better.  Shark as your ace isn't a very good team.  Shark as 3 or 4? Very good team.

If he's your 3rd of 4th best pitcher, you probably have one of the 10 best pitching staff in the history of baseball.

I know being a contrarian for the sake of it is your thing, but this is just being stupid.

Oh wait, that's also your thing.

Sorry, carry on.

[Eli]

1. Juan Cruz (977)
2. Calvin Schiraldi (976)
3. Kevin Correia (975)
4. Carlos Villanueva (970)
5. Bill Swift (970)
6. Dave Stewart (969)
7. Mark Grant (969)
8. Ron Schueler (968)
9. Renie Martin (967)
10. Willie Fraser (964)

This is entirely useless. Even you can probably realize he's a much better pitcher than he was 5-6 years ago.

Shark as your ace isn't a very good team.  Shark as 3 or 4?

These are all arbitrary designations. If the Cubs have a dominant offense and a strong bullpen (which it seems like they're trending toward, hopefully), it's entirely possible to be competitive with Shark as their best pitcher. Sure, it'd be awesome to have someone better, but I can't really think of more than a dozen or so guys who are locks to be more "ace-y" than Shark during the next 5 seasons. And those guys don't become available very often.

[ChuckD]

SIRI IS SHARK ELITE PITCHER?

[Tony]

I don't care if they pay him or not. I would be disappointed if they try to win with him on the staff an no one better.  Shark as your ace isn't a very good team.  Shark as 3 or 4? Very good team.

If he's your 3rd of 4th best pitcher, you probably have one of the 10 best pitching staff in the history of baseball.

I know being a contrarian for the sake of it is your thing, but this is just being stupid.

Oh wait, that's also your thing.

Sorry, carry on.

What the hell is Theo doing if he's not going to assemble one of the top 10 pitching staffs ever? I thought he was some kind of baseball wizard.

[Slaky]

I think ideally Shark is in the rotation of the team once they're good because he is good. He wants to be paid a shitload of money. They can hopefully find someone as good or better who will require less money.

Plus they'll get other players back for Shark.

I guess this isn't really that hard to figure out.

[InternetApex]

SIRI IS SHARK ELITE PITCHER?

I laughed my pasty white ass off. I no longer have an ass. I'm in the hospital and I need you to come pick me up.

[Chuck to Chuck]

I think ideally Shark is in the rotation of the team once they're good because he is good. He wants to be paid a shitload of money. They can hopefully find someone as good or better who will require less money.

Plus they'll get other players back for Shark.

I guess this isn't really that hard to figure out.

More likely they'll pay someone better and younger than Shark more money than they offered Shark. And offset that by paying very little to the guys they get back for Shark.

[Eli]

someone better and younger than Shark

I'd love to see your list of these people.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

someone better and younger than Shark

I'd love to see your list of these people.

It's in his Friedman_GM Datase.

[Eli]

someone better and younger than Shark

I'd love to see your list of these people.

It's in his Friedman_GM Datase.

In the last two years, guys with a better xFIP than Samardzija who are younger than him (min. 200 IP):

- Felix Hernandez
- Clayton Kershaw
- Chris Sale
- Stephen Strasburg
- Yu Darvish
- Madison Bumgarner

Go get 'em, Theo!

[PenFoe]

someone better and younger than Shark

I'd love to see your list of these people.

Clayton Kershaw
Jose Fernandez
Masahiro Tanaka
Matt Harvey
Yu Darvish
Felix Hernandez
Madison Bumgarner
Jordan Zimmerman
Steven Strasburg
Michael Wacha
Hyun Jin-Ryu
Chris Sale
Sonny Gray

Pretty sure that's the whole list.
Unfortunately, none of those guys are available.