Chicago Cubs Increase Jeff Samardzija's Value by Adding Him to Starting Rotation

Starting pitchers are worth much more to a baseball team than relievers. That's not to say relievers aren't important, of course. But a pitcher who can give a club 120-150 innings helps a staff more than one who contributes 70 or so innings.

Jeff Samardzija was successful as a reliever for the Chicago Cubs last season, posting a 2.97 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 88 innings. But Samardzija wanted to be a starting pitcher, as he had been for most of his minor league career. And with holes in their rotation, the Cubs were wise to give him a shot this spring.

Samardzija has made the transition well, pitching 20 innings and striking out 16 batters. Allowing 10 runs and 19 hits might be something of a concern, but the Cubs are likely more concerned with whether he could handle the increased workload.

Surely helping Samardzija's case was the six shutout innings he pitched against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday. Any reservations the Cubs may have had were addressed by that performance.

Consequently, the team named him to the starting rotation on Thursday. He's slated for the No. 3 spot behind Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza, according to ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine.

By naming Samardzija to the rotation, the Cubs sent three-year starter Randy Wells to Class AAA Iowa. Wells has been getting progressively worse over his past two seasons, finishing with a 4.99 ERA last year, so his demotion probably shouldn't be a surprise.

Wells can always be called back up if Samardzija doesn't work out or someone inevitably gets hurt. As Hoyer told the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan, the team looks at him as a sixth starter. 

But Wells really looks more like trade bait now. Levine speculates that Wells or teammate Marlon Byrd could be shopped around for a left-handed reliever. ChicagoNow's John Arguello thinks the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins have called about Wells, while the Cleveland Indians have shown interest in Byrd. 

That brings us back to a starting pitcher being more valuable. Samardzija could be a part of whatever core the Cubs build upon. But at 27 years old, he's probably going to be past his prime by the time this team develops into a contender.

If Samardzija shows he can be a reliable major league starter, he's going to draw interest from other teams. The Cubs will get more for him than if he remained a middle reliever. That is likely the primary motivation behind this decision.