Both Samardzija and Calvin Johnson were in the same recruiting class. Calvin was a first round pick, went on to play 9 season as one of the best WR in the game and made around $113 mil. He retired due to health concerns. Samardzija was a 5th round pick, played 14 seasons as a decent major league pitcher. Samardija made about $123 mil in his career and walks away with his health.

the game he enjoyed or sat in the dugout watching it.

Calvin spent most of his days during those years practicing. He played in 137 games in his career. That’s less than one year’s worth in baseball.

As others have posted on this thread, they are probably right that it is the end of the road for him.

Now maybe if we combined our numbers .....

I didn't follow his career that closely as baseball is somewhat boring to me. Did he spend a significant amount of his time as a relief pitcher? I know he was a better pitcher than his W-L record would indicate.

He started as a reliever, but was mostly a starter throughout his career. There were several years with the Cubs, A’s, and Giants where he had a good/great ERA but either didn’t get enough run support or had bullpens squander leads.

His year with the White Sox he won 11 games who knows how, because he had 4.96 ERA and *the worst* first inning ERA in baseball, well over 7.

Love the Shark, but he was terrible that year.

Seems like he lost a lot of games where he only gave up 1 or 2 runs.

And probably isn't in pain when he wakes up in the morning. I think he chose...wisely.

Probably my favorite player in the recent era.