T1B

Notre Damer picks Cubs over football

By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter

January 19, 2007, 1:05 PM CST

Jeff Samardzija's dreams of becoming the next Bo Jackson are over.

The Cubs announced Friday that the pitcher will forego an NFL career to sign a five-year deal to play baseball full-time, beginning in the team's minor league system.


When the Cubs drafted Samardzija last June, his intentions were to play football and baseball professionally, with a dream of playing for the Bears and the Cubs.

Samardzija pitched for Class A Boise and Peoria, where he finished a combined 1-2 with a 2.70 earned run average. He struck out 17 and walked 12 in 30 innings. He then returned to Notre Dame for the football season. Samardzija is expected to start in Class A Peoria for new manager Ryne Sandberg.

Samardzija got a $250,000 signing bonus after being picked in the fifth round of the draft. At the time, the Cubs believed the 6-foot-5-inch, 218-pounder from Valparaiso, Ind., would've been a first-round pick if he wasn't expected to play wide receiver in the NFL.

"Jeff obviously is thrilled to be with the Cubs and we have an understanding," general manager Jim Hendry said in June. "Hopefully down the road, he will be a Cub."

That day came Friday.


Copyright © 2007, The Chicago Tribune

Rack him for referencing Modest Mouse during a "Budweiser Hot Seat" interview.

Little shocked. I figured since most Draft pundits had him going in Round 1, that he would have at least gave the NFL a chance.

He was a star baseball player first, so maybe it's his first love.

As a Cubs fan, I couldn't be more exstatic. Cubs need a good pitching prospect right now, and from what I've heard of him, he'd be a great fit. Killian, you seen him play?? If so, is he as good as advertised? From what I read on him is that he would have been a 1st round pick in the MLB draft if it weren't for him being a football player. I think a lot of teams were worried he may never even play baseball, so they passed on him. I remember a couple years ago saying that Rhett Bomar was an idiot for playing football instead of taking his money from MLB and then if that falls through, go back to college and play football. There's more money to be made in baseball.

Those were the rumors (him being a 1st round MLB pick). He's a good prospect, but he's never hit the high 90's in his life. He topped out around 94-95. He would be best served by eliminating one of his pitches (he claimes to have 4-5) and just work on his main 3 and dabble with a 4th.

There's more money to be made if your farm system doesn't blow out your arm (Wood/Prior) and he actually makes it. Initially, there is much more money in football.

So he chooses to be a Cubs pitcher...what's the over/under on season-ending shoulder and elbow surgeries in his career?

94-95 is not a bad fastball as long as you've got good movement on your breaking ball and hit your spots well. I prefer pitchers like that anyways because they're less likely to bust out their arms. I'll take accuracy and good movement on pitches over a fireballer any day of the week. I'd like to see him pitch because I'm curious about his mechanics. As long as he has good mechanics, it sounds like he could be a very good big league pitcher and one that can stay healthy unlike Kerry Wood. His mechanics are piss poor and that's why he can't stay healthy. He never wanted to listen to anyone to try and change up his mechanics, and because of that, he'll never start another game at the big league level in my opinion.

12 walks in 30 innings in 1-A ball.

Better get a LOT more accuracy.

That's not terrible. 30 innings is not enough to accurately show how accurate he is. For all we know, the next 30 innings may have been with 5 walks and then it would have been 17 walks in 60 innings which is average. It's kind of like a relief pitcher giving up a grand slam his first outing of the season and now his ERA is fucked until May because of 1 bad pitch. Baseball is a game of averages and 30 innings is not a good enough indicator of how good you are.

Walks are always high in the minors.

JON, what say you of Mark Prior? He had perfect mechanics in college. Now, they are all fucked up.

I have no answer for that really. Prior has perfect mechanics and can't stay healthy. I'd say it's probably just a case of bad luck. Carlos Zambrano has stayed healthy though. I think Wood's injuries are his own fault and Prior's are bad luck. They're really the only top pitching prospects the Cubs have had that have had injury problems that have ruined their careers (well, since Mike Harkey). So this isn't really a trend since we're only talking about a couple of pitchers. That said, the Cubs haven't had a whole heck of a lot of great pitching prospects lately.......or any other position for that matter. Damn you Jim Hendry you piece of shit!!!

It just dawned on me that the reason Jon knows nothing about football or basketball is because he apparently knows a LOT about baseball.





Well, compared to me, anyway... which isn't really saying shit, no offense, Jon.

the_ouskull

I think it's a great move for the kid.

10 million for 5 years, plus a 2.5 million signing bonus.

Hell, if it doesn't work out, he can still give football a try and will only be 26 years old.

Killian wrote:Those were the rumors (him being a 1st round MLB pick). He's a good prospect, but he's never hit the high 90's in his life. He topped out around 94-95. He would be best served by eliminating one of his pitches (he claimes to have 4-5) and just work on his main 3 and dabble with a 4th.

There's more money to be made if your farm system doesn't blow out your arm (Wood/Prior) and he actually makes it. Initially, there is much more money in football.

maybe so, but there is defintely more security and long-term potential in baseball than football. and he doesn't have to worry about getting laid out over the middle by NFL middle linebackers and safeties.

see drew henson. $25 million guaranteed over five years to play baseball? $10 million up front to play football is obviously very tempting, but there's more long term security in baseball.

TheJON wrote:I think Wood's injuries are his own fault and Prior's are bad luck.

I agree with Jon.

Shoalzie wrote:So he chooses to be a Cubs pitcher...what's the over/under on season-ending shoulder and elbow surgeries in his career?

More games than if he were a Pirate pitcher.

^^^^^^^
Huh?

he'd be like 4-15 with a 3.2 ERA?

Yeah, kinda misread shoalz's post.
Lemmee amend....

"Hey everyone, So he chooses to be a Cubs pitcher...what's the over/under on season-ending shoulder and elbow surgeries in his career?"

Less than if he were a Pirate pitcher.


Good stuff, I know.

fuck the cubs

Skull,

For the record, baseball is my favorite sport and I follow that more than any because of that. If you think I'm a Hawkeye homer, you should hear me talk about the Royals!! But saying I have no CFB knowledge is very uninformed as well. You can say my opinions are retarded, that is fine, but to say I'm uninformed is not even close to true. I've forgotten more football than 99% of the fans out there including most of the posters on these boards.

TheJON wrote:I've forgotten more football than 99% of the fans out there including most of the posters on these boards.

You've forgotten more football than 100% of the people on these boards and prove it everytime you punch submit.

Yes, you're correct. I know nothing. Never even seen a game. The only thing I do know is that Charlie Weis is arguably the biggest fraud (double entendre) in the history of college football.

Going to the "I know more than 99% of everybody out there" is a pretty good way to let everybody know you're 100% full of shit.

TheJON wrote:Yes, you're correct. I know nothing. Never even seen a game. The only thing I do know is that Charlie Weis is arguably the biggest fraud (double entendre) in the history of college football.

No, that would be Kirk Ferentz. All this shit about him being the greatest coach in the Big 10 and he has as many outright conference championships as Weis. And the Pats have done pretty well without Weis.

Who the heck says Ferentz is the best coach in the Big-10? That would be Tressel. I don't think many people would argue that. Just like I don't think many people would argue Ferentz is 2nd.

TheJON wrote:Who the heck says Ferentz is the best coach in the Big-10? That would be Tressel. I don't think many people would argue that. Just like I don't think many people would argue Ferentz is 2nd.

I would.

Sincerely,

Bret Bielema.

Good point. 1 year proves you're a great coach. In fact, I think if Bielema retired right now, he deserves to go into the CFB hall of fame. Fucking dolt.

Ferentz is 55-43 at Iowa, 67-64 overall. 11 years proves he’s slightly above average. I’ll take Bielema’s upside any time. Flippin' tard.

One thing I'll give Ferentz credit for has been his ability to make such a big name for himself, considering how mediocre his football teams have been.

There you go again, bringing up statistics that you can't prove are correct! You're always doing this, Mgo!

Where did I reference any "statistics" in that post you fucking moron?