According to La Prensa (link is in Spanish), the Pittsburgh Pirates have shown a lot of interest 31-year-old left-handed pitcher Jaime Garcia this off-season and they are considered the front-runners to sign him. La Prensa notes that the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals have also shown interest, but the Pirates have shown the most interest and they are the most likely landing spot for Garcia.
Garcia split the 2017 season between the Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees, making 27 starts total and posting a 4.41 ERA and a 4.25 FIP in 157 innings, with a 1.41 WHIP and 129 strikeouts. He spent the previous eight seasons with the St Louis Cardinals, where he had a 3.57 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP over 896 innings. In 2016, he had a 4.67 ERA, 4.49 FIP and 1.38 WHIP in 171.2 innings, with 150 strikeouts.
Garcia’s best season was 2015 when he had a 2.43 ERA in 129.2 innings, with a 3.00 FIP and a 1.05 WHIP. He missed part of the season with a groin strain, but has been relatively healthy since then. Prior to 2015, he dealt with a shoulder injury that limited him for the better part of three seasons and he had Tommy John surgery back in 2008. He has thrown over 450 innings the last three seasons, so durability shouldn’t be an issue, but he would need to get back to the 2015 and earlier results to provide solid value.
