St. Louis Cardinals: Cards Making a Mistake in Jaime Garcia

Despite career-lows in 2016 and an overcrowded starting rotation, the St. Louis Cardinals will pick up Jaime Garcia’s one-year $12MM option.

Early this morning, Jenifer Langosch—the St. Louis Cardinals beat reporter for MLB.com—announced that the team would be picking up Jaime Garcia‘s one-year $12MM option. It was the only option that the Cards picked up this offseason. General Manager John Mozeliak had expressed some indecision about the move, as the team could have, and strongly considered utilizing the $500k buyout instead.

This move comes as a bit of a surprise. Garcia struggled mightily last season, finishing with a 10-13 record and a 4.67 ERA in 171.2 innings for St. Louis. Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece arguing that it was time to move on from Garcia. I hoped, and actually expected that the team would agree, but it appears they see some value in bringing back the Mexican-born left hander.

I found it hard to believe that a 30-year old with such a devastating injury history would be worth retaining after a year in which he posted numerous career-lows. Especially given the long list of candidates to fill the 2017 starting rotation. Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Mike Leake, Lance Lynn, and Alex Reyes are all fighting for a starting spot—and now you can throw Garcia’s name in the mix.

Jaime is the only lefty that could figure into the rotation, so perhaps that factored into their decision. But Garcia appears to be in the back-nine of his career, and it’s not pretty. His ERA of 4.67, his BB/9 of 3.0, and his HR/9 of 1.4 were all career-worsts. He got worse as the year went on too: his splits for opposing batters changed from .256/.325/.379 in the first half to .284/.340/.583 to finish the season.

What exactly is the appeal in bringing a pitcher with those numbers back to a crowded rotation?

There are potential scenarios in play that don’t involve Garcia starting. First of all, someone from that long list of starting pitchers has to slide into the bullpen. Lance Lynn has filled that role before, and rookie phenom Alex Reyes proved to be a valuable weapon in the pen down the stretch. But Lynn’s production was sorely missed last year, and Reyes looks ready to make a substantial contribution to the rotation.

Garcia has pitched in relief before, but with mixed results in a small sample size. Through 17 innings out of the pen, Garcia has walked 9 batters, while striking out only 14. This may seem insignificant, but it could be reflective of an inability to find his command without time to warm up and get in rhythm. That could explain his bullpen ERA of 4.76, despite a .BA against of just .180.

So, he’s not an ideal fit in the bullpen, and they have too many capable starters.  What exactly do the Cardinals have in mind?

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The front office could be viewing Jaime as an asset in the trade market. Plenty of teams need help with their starting pitching, but I have doubts about what kind of a return they would get for Garcia. There’s not a ton of trade value in an injury prone starter, north of 30-years old, who is entering the final year of his contract.

They might look to move one of their other starters, but again that doesn’t seem like a particularly realistic option. Martinez and Reyes are likely on Mo’s untouchables list, and Wainwright is far too old to fetch any sort of substantial return. Mike Leake has a full no-trade clause, so he’s not going anywhere. Lance Lynn’s propensity for winning games was clearly missed last year, and Wacha’s health should scare team’s away.

I just don’t see what the Cardinals are thinking here. On one hand, injuries happen, and you can never have too much starting pitching. Plus, $12MM over one year is not exactly a crippling contract for the organization. But on the other hand, the Cards already have six viable options for the rotation, and that doesn’t even include Luke Weaver, Tim Cooney, or Marco Gonzalez. This is a log jam.

Next: Mike Matheny Signs a 3-yr Extension

While I don’t see any realistic trade options for Jaime, it must be what St. Louis is planning. Fingers crossed for some sort of worthwhile trade here, because without one, I think the Cardinals have only added to their long-list of problems to solve.