Jeff Samardzija: Small steps

Any Cub fan looking at the state of the team without the aid of rose-colored glasses will admit that “build for the future, try and stay respectable in the present” will be the mission over the next few years. Or “rebuilding” if you prefer to be more concise.

The Shark will try to play stopper Sunday. Image courtesy baseballgms.blogspot.com.

In trying to embrace this realism, the important thing is to look past what Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol have (or haven’t) done so far, and focus on the little things that could make a difference once the team is contending again. (I guess I’m probably being a sucker and assuming that this time will come).

But Jeff Samardzija and his spot in the starting rotation are some of those small steps that we Cub fans will need to milk as much satisfaction as we can out of until Theo and Co. get the ship righted.

Samardzija should have a high ceiling as a pitcher. Admittedly I think that in part because of the money Jim Hendry threw at him when he was drafted, but also because he clearly has talent with his four pitches and velocity. And he finally had some success at the major league level last year. It’s not likely Samardzija will carry over his 8.90 K/9 rate from 2011 as a starter, but that’s an encouraging number.

Despite a great spring, Samardzija could easily disappoint. But he’s young(ish) and has talent, and therefore I would much rather see him getting a chance in the rotation than Rodrigo Lopez (who will get his fair share of starts once the injures start piling up). There is still an unknown with Samardzija, and we’re at the point with the Cubs where that is something we need to embrace.

The only downer is that should Samardzija excel, he’s only under team control until 2013. But with the money that will come off the books by then (Zambrano’s ghost, Dempster) signing him shouldn’t be something out of the Cubs budget.

Please Jeff, give me something to be excited about.