Giants starter Jeff Samardzija could fit with Angels, Padres, Phillies

Los Angeles Angels

The Los Angeles Angels made one of the biggest moves this offseason by signing infielder Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million pact.

With Mike Trout and Rendon, the Angels now have one of the best offensive duos in baseball. Similarly, they have one of the game’s most exciting prospects in Jo Adell, who will likely make his major league debut at some point in 2020. Offensively, there are plenty of reasons for the Angels fan base to be excited.

However, the rotation remains their biggest area of need as they look to improve on a 72-win season.

Despite adding Rendon, the Angels missed out on both Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg. Those frontline pitchers were rumored to have interest in playing in southern California, but they were swayed elsewhere.

The Angels have made nice additions in signing long-time Atlanta Braves pitcher Julio Teheran to a one-year, $9 million contract and acquiring Dylan Bundy in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite that, the Angels still need to add more pitching depth to a rotation that is short on durable arms. Currently, the Angels other rotation options include Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Jaime Barria, Jose Suarez, Shohei Ohtani, and Dillon Peters.

The Angels have a pretty extensive track record of bad luck when it comes to pitchers and injuries. With the exception of Teheran and Bundy, none of the pitchers mentioned above surpassed the 100-inning threshold last season.

In the case of Ohtani, he did not pitch at all in 2019 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. However, he did manage to swat 18 home runs as a designated hitter last season.

Since the 2012 season, Samardzija has soaked up an average of 182 innings per season, which would make him a great fit for an Angels team in need of durable arms.

The Angels have roughly $18.5 million in payroll room before they hit the CBT threshold, so they have just enough room to squeeze in Samardzija’s contract.

Still, they would likely need to trade away a minor contract to give them breathing room below the CBT, and the Giants have the ability to absorb contracts.