Matt Garza is irrationally bitter toward the Chicago Cubs

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Brewers took two games out of a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs over the weekend, but dominating his former team wasn’t good enough for Matt Garza. The fiery hurler, in more than one way, took to the postgame interviews to take a few more jabs at his former club, though these comments appeared to serve a larger purpose.

A story from ESPN Chicago has the postgame from Garza that included a variety of comments relating to the need for Jeff Samardzija pitching his way off of the North Side of Chicago. They included such gems as this one:

"I told [Samardzija], ‘It doesn’t matter, dude. You play in Chicago. I was there, and I lost 30 wins in three seasons. It’s not your fault. You pitch your way out of there.’"

Whether or not Matt Garza did see 30 potential wins fall by the wayside over the course of his tenure with the Chicago Cubs is certainly up for debate. Even without those 30 wins, Matt Garza did have a mighty successful stint with the club, when he was healthy. His three years in Chicago only featured 21 wins, but he did post a dead even 3.45 ERA and 3.45 FIP.

The Cubs traded Garza as part of their rebuild in a deal with the Texas Rangers that netted them top pitching prospect C.J. Edwards, as well as emerging third baseman Mike Olt. Garza wasn’t originally acquired during a rebuilding stage, but the presence of the front office tandem of Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein signaled his potential departure from the beginning.

And this is clearly something that Garza remains bitter about. It’s one thing to be excited to pitch against your former team, but openly campaigning for players on an opposing ballclub to pitch their way off a team seems excessive. Given the fact that his success in Chicago, and not his mediocre tenure in Texas, just netted him a $50+ million contract, you’d think he’d settle it down at least a bit.

Although it’s not as if he’s entirely wrong. If Jeff Samardzija does want to win anytime soon, it’d probably be in his best interest to pitch his way out of Chicago.