The San Francisco Giants have been trying to clear salary. Already in July, they dumped outfielder Austin Jackson and reliever Cory Gearrin on the Texas Rangers in a move to create more breathing room between their'payroll and the luxury-tax threshold.
Unfortunately for the Giants, they won't be able to pull the same trick with starter Jeff Samardzija. That's in part because Samardzija was placed on the disabled list on Sunday for the third time this season, and the second time due to shoulder inflammation:
This has been a wretched season for Samardzija, who hits the shelf with a 6.25 ERA in just 10 starts -- remember, this is someone who had made at least 30 starts in each of the past five seasons. To make matters worse, his strikeout rate has dipped and his walk rate has jumped, resulting in what would be a single-season-worst 1.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Brooks Baseball has Samardzija's fastball declining, too, from 94.6 mph last season to 93.3 this year.
With so many negative indicators, it's no wonder the Giants had been shopping around Samardzija with the hope of getting out from underneath what remains on his contract. USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported on Saturday that the Giants had called the New York Yankees to advertise Samardzija's availability:
The San Francisco Giants have let the Yankees know that veteran Jeff Samardzija is available, but he's still owed $46 million, and the Yankees fear that their short right-field porch would be a death trap for Samardzija.
Presumably the Giants would have been willing to eat some of that outstanding commitment to Samardzija in order to facilitate a trade. Now, there's even less reason for the Yankees to bite.
It's unclear if the Giants have designs on moving other veterans in the coming weeks. San Francisco is still technically in the playoff picture, entering Sunday 3 ½ games behind in the National League West and 3 games back of the second wild card spot.