The Cubs have seen enough from Jeff Samardzija to judge his 2012 a successful season, and manager Dale Sveum announced Friday that Samardzija’s 28th start Saturday against the Pirates would be his final outing of the year.
It is a precautionary move. Samardzija is currently at 165 2/3 innings this season after throwing 88 while working exclusively as a reliever last year.
While Samardzija possesses an 8-13 record, his ERA stands at 3.91 and he has a strong 171/55 K/BB ratio. He’s finishing on a high note, too, as he’s allowed just five earned runs and posted a 25/3 K/BB ratio over 21 innings in his last three starts.
Replacing Samardzija in the rotation will be Jason Berken, who was claimed off waivers from the Orioles today. Berken was 5-6 with a 3.60 ERA in 26 starts for Triple-A Norfolk this season. He’s made 81 relief appearances but never started a game as a major leaguer.
The Cubs will apparently finish out the year with a rotation of Chris Volstad, Travis Wood, Jason Germano, Chris Rusin and Berken. Volstad, who is 2-10 and has been demoted to the minors twice, is the only holdover from the Opening Day rotation that also included Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza, Paul Maholm and Samardzija.