Results tagged ‘ Jeff Samardzija ’
April 1, 2013 – Cubs @ Pirates / Opening Day Preview
It’s here! Well, it’s almost here, the lineups will be posted once they are available, here is everything you need to know up to this point.
LET’S GO CUBS!! Thanks for reading,
- George
March 11, 2013 – Cubs Lineup vs D-Backs
The Cubs take on the Diamondbacks today, Jeff Samardzija will get the start and we will hopefully see the longest start of the Spring. MLB.com has a free webcast of today’s game with Len Kasper handling the broadcast (audio only) beginning at 3:10 PM CST. Here is how the Cubs will get things started, the ever exciting Javy Baez gets the start at shortstop today.
DeJesus CF
Barney 2B
Schierholtz RF
Soriano LF
Valbuena 3B
Castillo C
Baez SS
Clevenger 1B
Samardzija P
Thanks for reading,
- George
Shark Warning Issued For April 1st in Pittsburgh
The Cubs, or Dale Sveum have officially named Jeff Samardzija the opening day starter for the 2013 season. Sure it’s only game one of one sixty-two, but it’s an accomplishment, especially for Samardzija, who just a couple of years ago was struggling out of the bullpen. Here is what Sveum had to say about Samardzija, ”He’s a guy who players rally around because of his work ethic, his bulldog mentality when he’s on the mound,” Sveum said Sunday. “It’s a very obvious choice, really, he’s that guy — it’s game on when he’s pitching that day,” Sveum said. “The other four days, he’s a starting pitcher who doesn’t sit around for four days. He’s into every game, and picking his teammates up. He’s fallen into that leadership role as well.” Some high praise from Sveum right there, and this could be a huge year for Shark as he has the chance to take a big step forward as the ace of this Cubs staff for not only this year, but years to come, he’ll also get paid for it too as his contract needs to be extended after the year.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Walk This Way; Cubs Hand Game to D-Backs Behind Eight Walks
On the surface it looks as though the Cubs staff struggled as a whole today, but that really wasn’t the case. Jeff Samardzija got the start and turned in the longest outing of any Cubs pitcher so far, tossing three innings giving up one run on one hit, while walking three and striking out one. It could have been much worse but Shark wiggled off the hook in the second after loading the bases with no outs. 
Obviously he didn’t have his best command as illustrated by the three walks, but he battled, and he wasn’t the only one that struggled with command today. Michael Bowden walked two in his inning of work, and Rafael Dolis imploded, walking three in a third of an inning while giving up four runs, three earned, on just one hit. Cory Wade, Blake Parker, James Russell, Casey Coleman, and Shawn Camp all had scoreless appearances.
The Cubs were able to plate two runs in the first inning off of Trevor Cahill, but that is all they would get in this one. Anthony Rizzo continued his strong spring going 2-for-3 with a double, and an RBI, he’s now hitting .364 (4-for-11) in the Cactus League. Luis Valbuena continues to make a strong case to be the starting third baseman going 1-for-2 with a run scored, he’s hitting a robust .571 (4-for-7) this Spring. Jorge Soler had a solid day at the plate going 1-for-2 with a triple, it’s impressive to see a guy that big run that well.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Navarro Propels Cubs With Big Three Run Blast
The Cubs exploded for four runs (all unearned) off of Giants ace, well one of them, Matt Cain, in the first inning and that was all they would need as they took care of the Giants 4-3 in their Spring home opener. The Cubs loaded the bases 
quickly in the first inning on a base hit by Castro, Rizzo reached on an error, and Soriano registered a base hit that almost took Matt Cain’s leg off. Cain was hobbled after he was nailed by Soriano’s line drive, he stayed in the game and proceeded to give up a three-run bomb to Cubs newcomer Dioner Navarro. The Cubs pitching staff made those four runs hold up as they shut down the Giants most of the day only allowing three runs on six hits. Jeff Samardzija got the start for the Cubs and tossed two strong innings, giving up three hits, one run, and struck out two without walking anyone. Kyuji Fujikawa made his Cubs debut, and it was impressive, he went one inning giving up one hit and stuck out two.
Samardzija talks opening day start, and his first spring start
Thanks for reading,
- George
February 24, 2013 – Cubs Lineup vs. Giants
Solid pitching matchup today, Jeff Samardzija vs. Matt Cain, here is how the Cubs will lineup to start this one out.
1. DeJesus CF
2. Castro SS
3. Rizzo 1B
4. Soriano LF
5. Schierholtz RF
6. Navarro C
7. Bogusevic DH
8. Barney 2B
9. Villanueva 3B
Thanks for reading,
- George
Sveum Sees Feldman in Rotation Already
I’m not going to say that Scott Feldman making the Cubs rotation is surprise, I just expected to be writing about it at the end of a very competitive camp, not before it even starts. Patrick Mooney reported today that Dale Sveum has penciled Scott Feldman into the rotation behind “the big three” of Garza, Samardzija, and Edwin Jackson. Yes, barring a step back from Samardzija, a blown apart Garza elbow, and an Edwin Jackson disaster, the Cubs can actually be considered as a team that has a big three at the top of the rotation. At this point, if you look at the top three for the other teams in the Central Division, I like the Cubs. They have three power arms at the top, and now, 
according to Sveum they have Scott Feldman following them. “Feldman’s going to be one of the starters,” Sveum said Thursday. “There’s an above-average chance Baker’s going to probably start a little bit late, just because you don’t want to really rush him. There’s no need for anything like that.” The words from Sveum today caught me a little off guard because the one word that I think describes this Cubs camp the best is competition, not saying there still won’t be plenty of it, I just expected more of it before naming Feldman to the rotation. As Mooney says in his article, both Feldman and Baker were promised a chance to redeem themselves this year as starters, so one would think that gives them the inside track. Not so fast, if we have learned anything from this Cubs organization since Theo took over is that they are calculated, everything they do has a reason or four behind it. Sveum continued with the comment of “there are no guarantees” in the rotation behind Garza, Samardzija, and Jackson, so what Sveum is saying in my opinion is that Feldman, and Baker for that matter, will be slotted in the rotation but if they give the coaching staff any reason to doubt that they belong there they will be bumped for someone who deserves it. So my final thought on this is expect there to be plenty of competition all Spring long, and don’t be surprised if Feldman doesn’t start the season as a starter, for my money, I think he will, but don’t count out Carlos Villanueva, or Travis Wood quite yet.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs Non-Tender Ian Stewart, Among Others
Some Cubs roster moves today, figured this was coming based on the comments from Jed Hoyer earlier in the day.
via Bleacher Nation
“According to Paul Sullivan, Carrie Muskat, and Bruce Miles on Twitter, Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said a couple interesting things this afternoon:
(1) He expects the Cubs’ 40-man roster to be under 40 by tonight (it currently stands at 40); and
(2) The Cubs are “very likely” (per Sullivan) to have a couple of non-tenders (Muskat used the words “may have a couple non-tendered”).”
This led to some speculation that there would be an unexpected non-tender as the five arbitration eligible players were Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, James Russell, Luis Valbuena, and Ian Stewart. 
Not the case, and I think there was some confusion in the reporting process of Hoyer’s comments, so moving onto the news of the day.
The Cubs non-tendered Ian Stewart, Zach Putnam, and Jaye Chapman today, essentially making them free agents immediately. All three players drop off the 40 man roster, leaving the 40 man roster at 37 currently. I said essentially free agents because teams sometimes do this to save money on arbitration eligible players. If the Cubs think that they can still sign all three players but at a lesser cost, it makes sense to non-tender them and then sign them on the open market. With that said, all three players are now in the FA pool and any team can sign them.
The did tender Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, James Russell, and Luis Valbuena. All four of those players remain under Cubs control for 2013, and will go through the arbitration process early next year unless contract extensions can be worked out.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Samardzija Saves His Best for Last
Talk about an exclamation point on a season, Jeff Samardzija went the distance in his final 2012 start in a 4-3 victory over the Pirates. It was known for a couple of days that Samardzija would be making his last start of the season tonight, so he was ready to empty the tank tonight, and he did. Samardzija gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits while walking one and striking out nine in his first career complete game. 
A fantastic season for Shark as he was not guaranteed a spot in the rotation until the last week of spring training, he finished the year 9-13 with a 3.81 ERA, and 174.2 innings. The Cubs did just enough with the bats to help Samardzija get his ninth win of the season and put another dent in the Pirates playoff hopes. Four runs was just enough, but the Cubs could have had so much more tonight as they were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left ten guys on base. Tony Campana, hitting ninth tonight, was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a walk, and a stolen base, the Cubs had four stolen bases in all. Alfonso Soriano went deep again tonight, his 27th home run of the season, David DeJesus and Welington Castillo each had two hits in the victory. Two in a row, the Cubs go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon.
Game Highlights:
Samardzija Goes the Distance
Castro Hit by Pitch
RBI Single from DeJesus
Soriano’s 27th Home Run
Thanks for reading,
- George
September 8, 2012 – Cubs Lineup vs. Pirates
Jeff Samardzija will get his last start of the season tonight against the Pirates. He is also hitting eighth as Tony Campana will occupy the nine spot in the lineup. Brett Jackson gets the day off after almost going through the wall last night. Welington Castillo will get the start behind the plate as Steve Clevenger will serve a one game suspension for his role in the fight earlier this week. Here is a look at the rest of the Cubs lineup for Saturday, September 8. The game is set to start at 6:00 PM on CSN Chicago.
DeJesus – RF
Valbuena - 3B
Rizzo – 1B
Soriano -LF
Castro – SS
Castillo – C
Barney – 2B
Samardzija – P
Campana – CF
Go Cubs!!
-Mark
