Jeff Samardzija to Start Season on DL After Pec Injury Diagnosed as Strain

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija is reportedly expected to start the 2018 MLB season on the disabled list after being diagnosed with a strained right pectoral muscle.

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle provided the update Thursday night and passed along comments from optimistic Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

"He'll go a week without throwing the ball and then crank it up," Bochy said. "It shouldn't take long for him to get back on the mound, so that's good news."

This is a difficult setback for San Francisco and Samardzija as he looks to bounce back from last year's up-and-down performance. He compiled a 4.42 ERA across 32 starts in 2017.

Samardzija signed with the Giants before the 2016 season after a lackluster 2015. He was an All-Star in 2014, when he posted a 2.99 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and 202 strikeouts in 219.2 combined innings for the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics. However, that marked a career-high workload, and he suffered a drop-off in 2015 with the Chicago White Sox, finishing with a 4.96 ERA in 214.0 innings.

He didn't regain his All-Star form in his first year with the Giants but still posted a solid 3.81 ERA in 2016.

Fortunately for San Francisco, the depth of its starting rotation is one of its strong points. It still has Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto as a formidable one-two punch that should keep the team afloat until Samardzija returns. Meanwhile, Derek Holland should get the first crack to fill the void.