It’s unclear whether or not the Giants are trying to move Jeff Samardzija before the upcoming trade deadline, but there appears to be at least one team interested.
Jon Morosi reported Saturday that the Astros are looking into a potential Samardzija trade. Most likely, the team is gauging the mix of money and prospects that would be needed to complete such a deal, as the 32-year-old Shark has three years left on his contract at nearly $20 million per season.
Sources: #Astros doing background work on Jeff Samardzija as trade candidate. He has thrown 6+ IP in 15 of 18 starts for #SFGiants. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 15, 2017
It’s been reported (and essentially confirmed by members of the San Francisco front office) that Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Brandon Crawford are the only untouchables on the Giants’ roster. Getting out of Samardzija’s expensive deal would certainly ease a financial burden, but do the Giants really want to give up a consistent arm like that who’s under team control for the foreseeable future? The team has said nothing about wanting to blow this up completely, so Samardzija would figure to be a key piece in any playoff push that happens in the next year or two.
Samardzija has a deceptively poor record of 4-10 this season, but he’s struck out 127 batters in 118 innings while walking just 14 all season. We’ll see if there’s any more buzz about a Samardzija trade, and to Houston in particular, in the coming weeks.