The saga of the Atlanta Braves trying to trade Jaime Garcia isn’t over. After an almost done deal with the Minnesota Twins collapsed, the Milwaukee Brewers have entered the picture for the lefty pitcher.
Garcia was supposed to move in a deal to the Twins during the weekend, but a medical problem with one of the prospects the Braves were supposed to receive stopped the trade from happening. Since then, the teams have been involved in more talks about other players, but the Twins are now focused on other teams and pitchers as well.
It hasn’t been revealed who the player that didn’t pass the medical is, but Nick Burdi was involved in the deal. The 24-year old righty had Tommy John surgery in late May and won’t play this season. The Braves haven’t shied from signing injury-prone pitchers before, so it might not be him. Burdi still doesn’t have a major league appearance, but was doing incredibly well in Double-A baseball before the surgery.
Garcia, 31, is more or less pitching at the same level he did last season, when he was still playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, his team from 2008 to 2016. He has a 4.30 ERA, slightly down from last season, and his WHIP is down to 1.319 as well. However, he’s striking out only 6.8 batters per 9 innings and his 2.07 K/BB ratio is the lowest since his rookie year.
The Brewers, now in the race, are a middle-of-the-pack pitching team who are suddenly seeing the Chicago Cubs breathing down their neck in the NL Central, slowly losing the lead they built in the first half of the season. The Twins are in 2nd place among the AL Central teams, hoping to stay ahead of the Kansas City Royals and get past the Cleveland Indians in a very close race. The Twins are among the worst pitching teams in Baseball, allowing a 4.81 ERA and .271 batting average. In a market without a lot of teams selling quality pitching, Garcia might be their best shot at improving on the mound.
Garcia has started in 18 games this season, pitching 113 innings. He is a World Series champion with the Cardinals in 2011, and his last dominant season was in 2015, when he started in 20 games and posted a 2.43 ERA and a 1.049 WHIP. He has never pitched more than 194 innings in a season.