How desirable is playing for the San Francisco Giants? Even in what will go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, the Giants’ potential trade chips are proving through their play that remaining in San Francisco is still attractive.
Over the past month, each of the Giants’ players mentioned in trade rumors have watched their trade value plummet due to injuries, poor performance, or both, and on Sunday, starter Jeff Samardzija was the latest to discourage potential suitors in San Francisco’s 7-1 loss.
A day after a report surfaced indicating the Houston Astros are taking a serious look at Samardzija, the Giants’ right-hander suffered through a miserable outing in San Diego, allowing seven runs over his first three innings of work against the Padres.
Samardizja, fellow starter Johnny Cueto and third baseman Eduardo Nunez represent three of the assets the Giants might be willing to part with later this month, but over the last several weeks, all three players have given Major League clubs reason to pursue alternative options.
Nunez returned to the Giants’ on Friday night after spending nearly a month on the disabled list with a hamstring strain, while Cueto was placed on the disabled list Saturday afternoon after blister issues that have caused him trouble throughout the 2017 season cropped up again during a short outing in the Giants-Padres series opener.
On Sunday, Samardzija continued to improve his historic strikeout-to-walk ratio, but it didn’t do him much good as a pair of his pitches found barrels at the worst possible times.
A day after former Giants’ catcher Hector Sanchez clobbered a walkoff, two-run pinch hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to even the series, Sanchez smoked a Samardzija offering to deep right center field in the bottom of the first inning on Sunday to give the Padres an early 3-0 lead.
Sanchez’s three-run shot marked his fourth career home run against the Giants, his most against any club in baseball. Remarkably, Sanchez spent five of his seven MLB seasons with San Francisco, yet it took him just 14 at-bats against his former club to launch his fourth round-tripper.
Of Sanchez’s five home runs this season, three have come against the Giants (two in the ninth inning of games), and another has come against former San Francisco reliever Sergio Romo. Weird stuff.
The Padres added on in the first inning after Cory Spangenberg roped a two-out triple and scored on a double in the ensuing at-bat by Erick Aybar, but it was the mistake Samardzija made in the third inning that cost the Giants any shot they had at winning the series.
After allowing singles to Wil Myers and Sanchez to lead off the frame, Samardzija grooved an 0-2 fastball right down the middle to Spangenberg that the pesky infielder turned on and launched to dead center field. Spangenberg’s sixth home run of the season extended the Padres’ lead to 7-1, and helped San Diego win its third straight series against the Giants to begin the season.
Samardzija ultimately settled down and retired the final seven hitters he faced to close out his outing, but the type of start he suffered through on Sunday has become all too familiar for a pitcher who’s finding the strike zone at an alarming rate.
The Notre Dame product finished the game with eight strikeouts and no walks in six innings of work, and has now struck out 98 batters and issued just four walks since the beginning of May. But during that same time period, Samardzija’s earned run average has never dipped below 4.31, and after Sunday’s start, it now sits at 4.86. Spangenberg’s home run in the third inning was the 20th the right-hander has surrendered this season, and at times, his fastball is providing all the power opposing hitters need.
For scouts who may have traveled to Petco Park to watch Samardzija pitch, instead, they’ll be reporting back to their general managers touting the work Padres’ starter Trevor Cahill has put in this season.
The Giants have had a habit of making opposing veterans look like Cy Young candidates this year, and on Sunday, a Brandon Crawford RBI single was the lone run San Francisco scratched across against the San Diego right-hander.
Cahill wound up throwing 6 and 2/3 innings and scattered eight hits, but gave up just a lone run and notched eight strikeouts in an effort that made him –not Samardzija– the pitcher rising on trade radars.