Golden Gate Sports
Fansided

San Francisco Giants Offseason Signings, One Season Later

By Sean Bialaszek

Oct 2, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) celebrate cinching the wild card against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7 to 1. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) celebrate cinching the wild card against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7 to 1. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
San Francisco Giants
Sep 6, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija (29) in the dugout in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

Jeff Samardzija (5 years, $90 million)

“Up and down” is the best way to describe the first year of Samardzija’s tenure in orange and black. He started the year on an absolute roll, cruising through April and most of May.

In his first 10 starts of the year, he posted a 2.54 ERA, 1.056 WHIP, and a .226/.271/.341 opponent slash-line. In 71 innings, he allowed just five home runs.

Things took a downward turn over his next 12 starts, when he pitched to a 6.30 ERA, 1.414 WHIP, and .285/.332/.549 slash-line. The home runs went way up as well, as he surrendered 16 in 70 innings.

He changed his approach at the end of the season, and the results changed as well. He picked up a curveball again for the first time in years and relied more heavily on a hard split-changeup, and he ended the year strong. In his last 10 starts, he posted a 2.45 ERA, 1.123 WHIP, and .230/.286/.327 slash-line while allowing just three longballs in 62.1 innings. Unfortunately he couldn’t carry that success into the postseason, and he struggled badly in his lone start.

A year after the Giants set a franchise record for most bullpen appearances, Samardzija was brought in to bring stability to the rotation. He did just that, throwing over 200 innings for the fourth straight year. Only six NL starters surpassed 200 innings, and half resided in the Giants’ rotation (Bumgarner, Cueto, and Samardzija).

Samardzija also improved personally. In 2015 with the Chicago White Sox, Samardzija had the third-highest ERA among qualified starters (4.96), the sixth-most home runs (29), and allowed the most hits (228), runs (122), and earned runs (118). In 2016, his ERA was 1.15 points lower, and he gave up five fewer home runs, 38 fewer hits, 34 fewer runs, and 32 fewer earned runs.

The hard-throwing righty had his fair share of ups and downs, but the good times outweighed the bad times. Heading into next season, the top four in the Giants’ rotation (Bumgarner, Cueto, Matt Moore, and Jeff Samardzija) looks like one of the game’s best.

Home/San Francisco Giants