Jeff Samardzija hits IL, may have thrown his last Giants pitch

The San Francisco Giants announced on Saturday that starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija had been placed on the 10-day Injured List with shoulder impingement in his throwing arm.

Left-handed pitcher Andrew Suárez — who was on the taxi squad — was added to the roster to replace the right-handed Samardzija.

While the Giants have initially placed Samardzija on the 10-day IL, he’s headed for an MRI which could keep him out much longer. If the results of the MRI aren’t encouraging, there’s a not-insignificant chance that his season is over, and that he’s thrown his last pitch as a member of the Giants.

As I detailed in my recap of the Giants’ 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday (in which Samardzija picked up the loss), the Shark has been almost entirely incapable of missing bats this year. He’s allowed more home runs (6) than he’s recorded strikeouts (5), and batters have had more hits (18) than swinging strikes (14) against his pitches.

He hits the IL with a 9.88 ERA, a 9.29 FIP, and 5 strikeouts to 4 walks in 13.2 innings.

A shoulder impingement — which sounds so pleasant — would certainly help explain the struggles that followed a pretty decent 2019 season by the former All-Star. Hopefully he’s able to make a full recovery and return to form, whether this year or in 2021.

As for Suárez, he’ll continue to engage in the roster dance. He was added to the roster on Sunday when Drew Smyly hit the IL. With rosters trimming from 30 players to 28 on Thursday, he was optioned back to the taxi squad without having made an appearance.

Now he’s back, and presumably this time he’ll get into a game. The Giants second-round pick in 2015 made 21 appearances a year ago and had an ERA of 5.79, and FIP of 5.85, and 25 strikeouts to 14 walks in 32.2 innings.