Chicago Cubs: Can Jeff Samardzija Anchor the Staff Long-Term?

The Chicago Cubs are not looking good in the early goings this season, but on a positive note, the team's gamble on starting Jeff Samardzija is starting to look like it may actually pay off.

While things are looking good after two starts, one has to ask:

For just how long?

People in Chicago know of Samardzija as a promising star dual-sport athlete coming out of Notre Dame, shocking many as he opted for baseball over football. That was after becoming the Fighting Irish's single-season record holder for both touchdown receptions and receiving yards.

While many question if his decision of baseball was the better option, it looks like he made the right choice. The only thing is that remains to be seen is if he can be consistent, as this season's sample size—two games—just isn't enough to really determine if he can keep it up.

In his two starts this season, Samardzija is 2-0 with a 3.95 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. As mentioned, not a great sample size.

If one takes into account what he managed to do toward the end of last season, there is reason to be optimistic about the right-hander's future with the club.

In his last 28 appearances, Samardzija dominated batters in his relief role last season. He had an ERA of 2.17 through 29 innings with 27 strikeouts.

As one can tell from last year's and his current production, Samardzija is looking to be a strikeout machine, averaging at least one per inning—and perhaps even more once he starts to mesh into things.

As he continues his development as a major league starter, he could potentially become a shutdown threat each day.

If Samardzija can become that pitcher, he could become a stud in this rotation, and with enough progress and hard work, the man who holds it down.

Of course, it still will remain to be seen how the team will handle situations with Matt Garza, as well as if Travis Wood will be the star the team is hoping for.

Samardzija could always end up returning to the bullpen, where he had his success a year ago, but right now things are finally looking promising for the man that has been working to get this position for quite some time.

The Cubs have a lot of young, up-and-coming options. Samardzija has his chance right now to impress the Cubs' new front office, and if he can do that there is no reason to think he won't be able to become the leading man in this team's future rotations.

This rebuild won't be easy, but it can go much quicker if young players can step up to become leaders in the near future.