Samardzija/Cubs in 2007?

Question

will he see some good playing time? im wondering if pitching was the right choice or if he should have stayed with football. speaking of the cubs, will they improve this year? they sure have the manager and the roster to do it know.

Answer 1

It's not likely, but maybe in some capacity later on in 2008. Read this from Cubs.com:

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070121&content_id=1783672&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

"After seeing Samardzija sign with the Cubs and pass on the chance to play pro football, what are the chances he ends up with the Cubs sometime this year? Every time I hear people talk about him, I hear he throws in the mid 90s and, after playing at a very competitive college, it seems he wouldn't be too far away from the Major Leagues.
-- Matt H., Oak Park, Ill.

It would seem that way, but Samardzija is not expected in the big leagues this year. He has thrown some on the side since the football season ended, but the Cubs want him to take his time and not try to throw 97 mph on March 1. This kid is special. When he was pitching for the Cubs' Boise team last summer, he would do all his agility work and running after the games to get ready for Notre Dame's football season because he said he knew coach Charlie Weis would be able to tell if he didn't do his drills. Samardzija stayed in touch with the Boise players after he left. Be patient. "

Answer 2

The Cubs will definitely be better. Since the Caridnals got worse, the Cubs might have a shot at the playoffs depending on how Houston does.

Samardzija will start at class A this year, maybe he'll move up to AA at some point but he shouldn't go higher than that. He won't be in the bigs before mid-2008. I was surprised he chose baseball, since they were saying he could be a first-round pick in football. But the Cubs threw him a bunch of money and he says baseball is his true love, so if that's true, then yes he made the right decision. If I were him I'd have tried to do both for a while though, at least until I got an idea which one would be better.

Answer 3

Samardzija will not be in the big leagues for at least a year,probably two.Unless,of course the Cubs are either hopelessy out of contention or need a drawing card to get fans to Wrigley.
The Cubs aren't going to be much improved this year because they overpaid to get below average players at the position they needed help at - pitching.Their roster isn't all that impressive if you really think about it.Ramirez doesn't hit in the clutch,Lee has been injured and might not be the same player,Soriano will strikeout too many times without taking a walk and even though he's going to hit some dingers - why is he on his fourth team in his fairly young career?The Cubs starting pitching is thin and the bullpen is non-existent.They do however have the perfect guy to manage in Pinella.After all his last stop was such a booming success,wasn't it.Since he didn't turn Tampa Bay into a winner,he should do fine with the Devil Rays North

Answer 4

Alot lof questions here. let's see If I can tackle them all.

Samarzija with the big league club in '07- I highly doubt it, it diffently would not be in the best interests of his development. If Dusty was still running the team, it might happen. He should top out at AAA this year, and start there in '08 as well.

I think he absolutly made the right choice. I'm assuming he's at least 1/2 as good as advertised as a baseball player. Especially since the Cubs showed him the money up front.

Of course the cubs will be better this year, if Lee stays healthy they wouldn't have even needed to add so many big salaries, they might be contending this year.

Sweet Lou can't be any worse than Dusty.

Answer 5

samardzija was a great wide receiver but not many know that he's a great pitcher. college football obviously is a huge sport among sport fans so millions saw samardzija play football, but college baseball is not that popular so many havent seen samardzija football. i think samardzija will be in the minors and by the end of the year, possibly triple A iowa..maybe two years he'll be in the majors. as for the cubs and pinella, pinella isnt a great manager. hes the kind of manager that needs good players to win and i think the cubs have good players. of course, they have a potent offense, but many think that their defense is week...not true. derek lee is one of the best 1st basemen in all of baseball. ramirez has improved over the last few years. derosa is decent fielding wise. then izturis is a solid shortstop. leftfield will probably be murton who has an above average arm and has decent speed. jones needs to improve on his arm accuracy, but i think he'll turn out fine. then soriano..many have criticized his fielding but i think hes an improving fielder that has a pretty good arm and great speed.

final thoughts: cubs have drastically improved over the offseason with huge free agent signings and so far theyve added more and more depth to this team. they are defintely a contender for both the nl central and the nl wild card...watch out

Answer 6

Heard one scouting report that they picture Jeff as a middle reliever in the future. I actually think he would be a better receiver than a pitcher. But he took security. Also the Cubs don't have the pitching. I know there is a ton of Cub Love out there on Yahoo but what pitcher besides Z scares you? Lilly? Marquis? Dempster?

Answer 7

Don't expect to see much of him this year - if at all. Heck yeah, pitching was the right choice over football. I can't remember the last time I saw a pitcher get a concussion after a vicious shot from a linebacker. Will they improve? After spending the way they did, anything less than a World Series championship is a disappointment.

Answer 8

Cubs will improve because of one thing and I don't mean all the signings.

They improve because of new coach, Lou Pinella.

Maybe not any championships, but that guy is gonna be the reason Wrigley Field finally falls down because he has one of the most fiery and famous tempers in sports history.

Answer 9

im a huge cubs fan and a big college football fan and when i heard that jeff signed with the cubs it was awesome he was one of my favorite wr in football now i think hell be a great pitcher in the major leagues ,but i not as good as carlos zambrano

Answer 10

No, Samardja is in like single A. And the Pirates are going to finish ahaed fo the Cubs anyway. GO BUCCOS!