The San Francisco Giants weren’t able to sign David Price or Zack Greinke, the two best starting pitchers on the free-agent market, so they went out and landed one of the next-best options.
Jeff Samardzija and the Giants have agreed to a five-year contract, pending a physical. The team announced the deal Saturday via Twitter. Samardzija’s contract is worth $90 million, per Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, and includes a limited no-trade clause, according CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman.
Samardzija, 30, went 11-13 with a 4.96 ERA and 163 strikeouts for the Chicago White Sox last season.
Any MLB team needs pitching to win in the playoffs, and the Giants understand that as well as any club. San Francisco has been the most successful team of the decade, earning World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Those championships were built on good pitching, and Samardzija will provide even more talent and depth to an already impressive Giants rotation.
The Giants failed to reach the playoffs in 2015 as defending champions.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Rempel/USA TODAY Sports Images
