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Report: Tampa Bay Rays to Sign Avisail Garcia

On the lookout to add a powerful right-handed bat all offseason, the Tampa Bay Rays have now added outfielder Avisail Garcia to the fold.

The Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly close to signing free agent outfielder Avisail Garcia. The contract is reported to be for one year and will guarantee Garcia $3.5 million, plus some potential bonuses.

Tampa Bay Rays to Sign Avisail Garcia

Garcia debuted for the Detroit Tigers when he was just 21-years-old in 2012, though he’s spent most of his career with the Chicago White Sox after being acquired in a trade on July 30, 2013. With a lifetime 101 wRC+, he has been almost exactly a league-average hitter in his career. In 638 games, he’s hit .271/.321/.420 with 76 home runs and 302 RBI.

Garcia enjoyed a career year in 2017 when he hit .330/.380/.506 with 18 home runs, 50 extra base hits, and 80 RBI in 136 games. That performance was good for a 136 wRC+, 4.2 fWAR, and an All-Star selection. However, his performance fell off significantly in 2018. Garcia slashed just .236/.281/.438, posting a 92 wRC+ over 385 plate appearances. He did hit a career-high 19 homers in just 93 games, though. Garcia’s 2017 line was propped up by a .392 batting average on balls in play. That proved to be unsustainable for him, as his BABIP dropped to .271 in 2018. His strikeout rate also climbed from 19.8% to 26.5%.

After his disappointing 2018, the White Sox opted to non-tender the 27-year-old native of Venezuela. Had they tendered him a contract, Chicago would have owed Garcia a raise from his $6.7 million salary in 2018 through arbitration. Instead, he’ll join the Rays for what looks to be a pretty big pay cut, though it sounds as though Garcia could make as much as $6 million this year with incentives.

Garcia may not play every day for the Rays, but he’ll likely get a lot of at bats against left-handed pitching, spelling either Ji-Man Choi at designated hitter or Austin Meadows in right field. Garcia owns a career line of .304/.358/457 against southpaws, so he could prove valuable to Tampa Bay in that role.

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