In their seemingly never-ending quest to find more bullpen help, the Cubs added another lefthanded pitcher to the organization Friday:
#Cubs are signing Jaime Garcia to minor league deal. With #Bluejays this year held LHs to .188 BA. Cubs plan on having him make a few minor league relief appearances this weekend to see what he looks like in the role. @Feinsand was 1st to say Garcia signing with Cubs was likely
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 31, 2018
That pretty much sums up why this signing was made — Garcia’s success against lefthanded hitters this year. Perhaps the Cubs see him as a LOOGY for September. Overall Jaime Garcia, who was released by the Blue Jays two days ago, was pretty poor this year: 5.93 ERA, 1.534 WHIP in 25 appearances (13 starts), with 13 home runs allowed in 74⅓ innings.
So we’ll see how Garcia does this weekend with Iowa, and of course like anyone on a minor-league deal, he’d need a 40-man roster spot in order to be added to the active roster in September.
Garcia’s last good year was 2015, when he posted a 2.43 ERA, 1.049 WHIP and 3.9 bWAR for the Cardinals. You might remember this home run Jorge Soler hit off him in Game 2 of the division series that year at Busch Stadium in St. Louis:
Hopefully, if he does wind up pitching for the Cubs, they’ll keep him away from righthanded power hitters.
Poll
Jaime Garcia!
This poll is closed
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11%
Yea!
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15%
Nay!
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72%
Meh