St. Louis Cardinals Best/Worst Case: Jaime Garcia

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Sep 5, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia (54) celebrates getting Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison (not pictured) to ground into a force out to end the seventh inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Best Case: Garcia stays healthy and dominates in 2016

The best case scenario for Garcia is simple — that he stays healthy. Of course, this is easier said than done for the 29-year old.

Still, Garcia gave a glimmer of hope last season when he started 20 games (something he hadn’t done since 2012). Garcia also proved that when he is healthy he can still baffle hitters on the mound. The lefty won 10 games for St. Louis while compiling a dazzling 2.43 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 1.05 WHIP and a 163 ERA+ over 129.2 IP in 2015.

As I said, the performance was good enough to get Garcia another year in St. Louis as the club picked up his option. But, the best case scenario for the left-hander is to keep a clean bill of health all of 2016. I’m talking 30 starts and 200 IP this year, which would be the first time Garcia has reached 200 IP in a season in his career.

It’s probably unrealistic to think that Garcia can keep up last year’s numbers over the course of an entire season in 2016. But if he somehow does, the lefty would almost be assured an extension with the Cardinals.

Garcia would need to stay healthy and dominate to the tune of 15 plus wins, a sub 3.00 ERA and 1.10 WHIP over the season. If he does that, he should be in good shape moving forward with the Cardinals. Even if the Cardinals elected not to sign Garcia to another extension, those kind of numbers and a full season of staying healthy would likely land Garcia a pretty hefty deal in free agency. So, he will be doing all he can to have a dominant, healthy season.

But, what if Garcia doesn’t stay healthy? What if he’s plagued by injuries once again in 2016?

Next: Worst Case: Lost On the Disabled List