Jeff Samardzija Calls Chicago Cubs Strategy ‘A Joke’: Why The San Francisco Giant Is Hating On His Former Team

Jeff Samardzija, a starting pitcher the San Francisco Giants acquired in a deal with the Chicago White Sox back in December 2015, has recently opened up about how fed up he is with the Chicago Cubs and why he left the team in the first place. And he certainly did not pull any punches.

More specifically, Samardzija let the world know that he is sick and tired of the Chicago franchise’s team improvement mantra: “Wait until next year.”

Samardzija was a member of the Cubs for the first seven and a half seasons of his big-league career. When he was in the process of leaving for the Oakland A’s in 2014, writes FOX Sports, Chicago attempted to persuade Samardzija into staying by feeding him the same old line Jeff had been hearing for years: “We’re building for the future. It’ll get better next season.”

After a while, Samardzija said he lost faith in the mantra, which time and time again proved to be untrue.

“It was the easy thing to do. You can always sell the future, and people always buy it. It’s a great way to rebuild, and I understand that,” Samardzija told USA Today.

“But as a veteran guy, it was becoming a joke.”

Samardzija served the Cubs quite well during his time in Chicago, so the team offered Jeff quite a nice contract after his 7+ seasons were up. But, Samardzija said his time being jerked around by the Chicago Cubs administration had left scars and he was not looking to forgive.

“I just got so sick of hearing about it. They had to do what they had to do, but as a professional, you always want to be competing, not hearing some rhetoric every year. There are certain things you don’t forget.”

Jeff Samardzija’s outspoken criticism of the Cubs management seems all the harsher because of the rarity of professional sports players coming out of their shells and telling reporters how they really feel about a league issue. Samardzija and his fellow pro athletes generally want to avoid any risk of damaging relations with anyone in their business — including opposing teams — and so they generally speak in very broad criticisms, nearly always staying positive and almost never singling out a specific player or team as doing something wrong.

https://twitter.com/CubStats/status/714618008325398528

Because Jeff Samardzija broke that unwritten rule, it can be assumed he is more than a little irked with the Chicago club. Could this be the beginning of a Samardzija vs. Cubs vendetta?

In any case, it is safe to say that Samardzija is done with the Cubs for good and after his words, they are likely done with him, too. That’s fine with him, though, because Samardzija has been vocal about how much he loves being a San Francisco Giant.

“I really didn’t know it could feel this good. There’s such a love for the game here. It’s old school.”

Jeff also said that he feels very at home in the Giants clubhouse. Samardzija plans to buy a house in downtown San Francisco, and he can see himself being friends with a lot of the other players.

“I’ve never on a team where baseball is talked about this much consistently, or surrounded by a group of guys that love the game as much as they do. Just a bunch of gamers, talking ball. I can take a deep breath, not have to answer trade rumors anymore, worry where I’m going to live, or talk about rebuilding. This is where I belong,” Jeff concluded.

Jeff Samardzija, the gift that keeps on giving for #Cubs, has found nirvana with #SFGiants. https://t.co/5jQJwTYmya pic.twitter.com/XL0HRqGYJQ

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 28, 2016

Giants fans can only hope Jeff Samardzija can make them as happy as the city has made him by pitching the lights out during the fast-approaching 2016 season.

Samardzija’s 2015 with the White Sox was rocky (11-13 with a 4.96 ERA), but the few years preceding that were gems, so hopefully the 31-year-old former all-star Samardzija can recapture his glory days.

[Photo by Jeff Chiu/AP Images]