As of Monday, the New York Yankees have made a couple of trades to help bolster their pitching staff. That includes Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics and Jaime Garcia from the Minnesota Twins.
Yankees Acquire Jaime Garcia From The Minnesota Twins
On Sunday, the Yankees acquired Garcia from the Minnesota Twins, who they themselves just recently acquired on July 24 from the Atlanta Braves. In return for Garcia, the Yankees sent Minnesota two of their pitching prospects, left-hander Dietrich Enns and right-hander Zack Littell. The addition of Garcia adds experience to the Yankees rotation.
This time last season the Yankees were sellers at the trade deadline. They traded players like Ivan Nova, Aroldis Chapman, and Andrew Miller which provided them with quite a return of highly touted prospects. Prospects that are already paying dividends this season. Thanks in large part to the Yankees youth movement this season, they find themselves in first place in AL East and buyers this time around. They’ve already acquired third baseman Todd Frazier, relief pitcher David Robertson, relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle, Gray, and Garcia.
Garcia, 31, will provide more stability in the starting rotation as their No. 5 starter than the trio of Luis Cessa (0-3, 4.83), Caleb Smith (0-1, 7.20), and Bryan Mitchell (1-1, 4.29). All of whom had an opportunity to try and seize the fifth spot in the rotation. All three pitchers struggled to provide quality starts and failed to provide the Yankees with lengthy outings in order to protect their bullpen. Garcia, who many refer to as a ‘crafty lefty,’ has made a lot of pressured-filled starts in his nine-year career, including in the postseason. In 2011, Garcia helped the St. Louis Cardinals win a championship by starting five games in the postseason and posting a 1.80 ERA in the World Series.
Garcia commands five pitches, but mainly features three: a fastball, changeup, and slider. On the season, between the Braves and Twins, Garcia is 5-7 with a 4.29 ERA over 119 2/3 innings in 19 starts. The left-hander joins his fourth team team in nine years. He’s pitched for the Cardinals (2008, 2010-2016), Braves (2017), Twins (2017), and now the Yankees. For his career, the veteran left-hander is 67-52 with a 3.65 ERA.
Garcia adds depth and experience to a rotation that had only two other veterans in Masahiro Tanaka (8-9, 5.09) and CC Sabathia (9-3, 3.66) before acquiring Gray. Having Garcia allows manager Joe Girardi to rest some of his starting pitchers going forward. Especially since right-hander Luis Severino (7-4, 3.03) and rookie left-hander Jordan Montgomery (7-6, 4.15) are on pace for career-highs innings pitched. Montgomery has never pitched more than 140 innings in the minor leagues, and he already has 110 2/3 innings pitched on the season.
The Yankees already have one of MLB’s best power-hitting lineups, which features rookies Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, and second-year catcher Gary Sanchez. The Yankees also have arguably the best bullpen in all of baseball, featuring Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Chad Green, Adam Warren, Robertson and Kahnle. Now with the additions of Garcia and Gray, the Yankees are ready for a serious postseason run. Something Yankee fans have been waiting for.
