SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jeff Samardzija spent the offseason in the Bay Area, splitting time between raising his two young sons and logging regular workouts at Oracle Park. As a result, Samardzija frequently crossed paths with new manager Gabe Kapler, who invited the veteran right-hander to work out with him a few times. Samardzija politely declined.

“He’s a former CrossFit champ, which is impressive,” Samardzija said on Tuesday. “Intense guy, but not overly intense to where it’s exhausting, which I think can happen sometimes with people that are just really ultra-intense. He just comes from a point of wanting the players to like him and be a players’ manager.”

Samardzija, 35, considers himself an old-school player, and he made headlines last year by lamenting the rise of managers who are increasingly viewed as extensions of the front office rather than autonomous figures in the dugout.

“He’s just a dying breed,” Samardzija said when Bruce Bochy announced his retirement last spring. “Unfortunately, after this, you’re going to have 30 puppets out there.”

Kapler could face similar skepticism from players given his close ties to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, but Samardzija said he feels good about the direction the Giants seem to be charting under his leadership.

“I'm excited for the young guys to get to be around him,” Samardzija said of Kapler. “He's going to be a great liaison for those guys to figure out what it's going to take to be successful here. I'm excited. I think I saw an article before about just how polar opposites they are, with him and Boch. That's true, but not in a bad sense. There are different ways to skin the cat, and I'm excited to see his way.”

With Madison Bumgarner gone, Kapler will be counting on Samardzija and fellow veteran Johnny Cueto to lead the starting rotation and help set the tone for the club’s younger pitchers. Samardzija is ready to embrace that role, especially now that he has moved past the shoulder issues that wrecked his 2018 season.

After posting a 6.25 ERA over 10 starts in 2018, Samardzija enjoyed a resurgent campaign with the Giants last year, logging a 3.52 ERA over 181 1/3 innings. Samardzija maintained the same offseason routine he developed while rehabbing last winter and said he feels “a step ahead” from where he was last year.

“There was a lot of uncertainty going into last year,” Samardzija said. “To be honest, I didn't feel great last year in camp. I remember talking with my brother and my wife at different times, just really unsure if we were going to get out of the gates last year. To be a little bit beyond that right now and understand we still have the next month and a half here to get going for the season -- I'm really excited.”

With the Giants in the midst of a rebuild and Samardzija entering the final year of the five-year, $90 million contract he signed in December 2015, there’s no guarantee he’ll still be pitching for San Francisco at the end of the season. If the Giants fall out of contention in the first half, they could look to move veterans like Samardzija at the Trade Deadline in exchange for prospects who could help accelerate their push toward the future.

Samardzija, for his part, said he isn’t allowing himself to think that far ahead yet.

“I think a lot of what happens in the future will be determined by the first two or three months of the season,” Samardzija said. “If we go all in with these young kids and with the veterans we have here and believe in the dream of getting to the playoffs and making a run after that, then all things change.”