Oakland Athletics: Why Jeff Samardzija Makes Sense To Pursue

This offseason, there are plenty of options in the ranks of free agent starting pitchers led by headline names such as David Price, Zack Greinke, and Johnny Cueto – just to name a few. Now obviously the Oakland Athletics cannot afford these No. 1 type pitchers, nor would they likely be able to persuade any of them into the confines of O.Co Coliseum, but hope still remains. Not the hope for an A-list pickup, but for a contributor that can fit seamlessly into a clubhouse filled with youth in need of a sense of direction.

Who better to do that then someone who’s been there before?

Someone like Jeff Samardzija.

Unlike some of his former teammates – too long of a list – that were also traded away after his half-season with Oakland, the Shark did not have a particularly great 2015 campaign. He led the AL in hits allowed (228), earned runs (118), and home runs surrendered (29). All of these are concerning numbers coming off a combined season split between both the Chicago Cubs and the A’s where he registered a 2.99 ERA over 33 starts.

When he’s got his best stuff, the former All-American Wide Receiver at Notre Dame features a 95-98mph heater with a devastating splitter and a plus curveball. The problem is he has a tendency to leave all three pitches up in the strike zone. Some days this can convert into a lot of weak contact – tossed an AL best two shutouts – but on others can results in baseballs leaving a hitters-friendly U.S. Cellular Field. Yet, coming back to the Coliseum could benefit him in that it favors fly ball pitchers, which he has proven to be on most days.

Durability isn’t a problem for Samardzija; it’s consistency. It’s also the reason why he might be within the A’s price range. Reports from mlbtraderumors.com have an estimated contract for the Shark around 5 yrs./$80 million. However, with the current market I predict that price tag will lower. The one thing that could keep that number up is a previous contract given out to someone with a similar talent level, say James Shields (4 yrs./$75 million). With that said, he also has not had a Shields-like type of prolonged consistency – nine straight season of 10+ wins and 200+ innings – so it could be difficult for Samardzija to gain such kind of leverage.

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Either way, at only 30 years of age, the Shark still has some of his best ball ahead of him and if the Oakland Athletics are willing to spend along the lines of what they gave Bartolo Colon, Scott Kazmir, or even Billy Butler, they could find themselves with a veteran arm who would complement Sonny Gray nicely at the top of the rotation.