Lockout Lookup: Jaime Garcia

[RandBalls Stu]

The tale of a man who was traded twice in ten days, but oh what a ten days it was.

Subject: Jaime Garcia

Why You Remember Him: The summer of 2017. The Twins were contending for an AL Central pennant, trailing division-leading Cleveland by a mere half-game. Shoring up their rotation for late-summer glory, the team moved prospect Huascar Ynoa (more on him later) to Atlanta for veteran starter Jaime Garcia (along with Anthony Recker and cash money).

Garcia immediately stepped in and picked up a win in his first start, giving up three earned runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

And then he was gone.

That half-game deficit was as of July 20. Ten days later, the Twins were seven games back of a surging Cleveland and in the rearview of a hot Kansas City squad. With the trade deadline looming, Minnesota reversed course and sent Garcia to the Yankees for Zach Littell and Dietrich Enns.

The kicker, of course, is that the Twins still snagged the last wild card spot in a subpar American League and lost to Garcia’s Yankees. He did not pitch in New York’s 8-4 victory, marking one of the few Twins playoff defeats to the Bronx Bombers that could have been even more humiliating.

What You Might Remember, Part 1: Littell left Minnesota in free agency in 2020 and became a crucial part of San Francisco’s 2021 NL West-winning bullpen.

It is very, very fair to say the Twins could have used him in 2021.

What You Might Remember, Part 2: Ynoa had an up-and-down year for Atlanta last season, posting a 4.05 ERA in 17 starts, hitting a grand slam, breaking his pitching hand by punching a bench, and being a late scratch for a critical NLCS start, eventually missing the rest of the postseason. The whole World Series thing probably makes up for that.

It is very, very fair to say the Twins could have used him in 2021.

What You Don’t Remember, Part 1: Dietrich Enns is currently pitching in Japan for the Saitama Seibu Lions.

It is very, very fair to say the Twins might have used him in 2021.

What You Don’t Remember, Part 2: Anthony Recker is now part of the Mets broadcast team.

It is very, very fair to say that Bally Sports North might have used him in 2021.

The 2017 Jaime Garcia Trade Winners, Ranked:

1. Atlanta
2. San Francisco, despite not being involved in either trade
3. New York
4. Minnesota

What’s He Up To: Garcia decade-long career ended after a stint with the Cubs in 2018. He now works with Water Mission, a Christian organization that provides clean water to the developing world.

Question for Commenters: What was your favorite Jaime Garcia Twins moment?

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[miracleb]

Ouch

[ANDwon]

[RJA]

Favorite moment. Hmmmm.  Let me think.  Hmmmm.  I'll get back to you.

[Dman]

Yeah that was a pretty crazy turn of events.  At the time Ynoa was having control problems and was a long ways away so I wasn't that burned about the trade.  Even when they eventually decided to trade Garcia to the Yankee's it looked like it could be a win for the Twins as they were getting a closer to ready pitcher instead of one further away.  Granted not as much upside for Littell but we needed pitching ASAP so again it didn't seem like all was lost. Not sure why the Twins gave up on Littell so fast.  He was injured in 2020 which seemed to impact his stuff and he became pretty homer prone but he had had a pretty good 2019.  At any rate they lost out big time on that trade in the end IMO.

As a side note remember they were going to trade Burdi to Atlanta but they didn't like the medicals.  If they would have taken him instead of Ynoa this trade looks a lot different.  Most teams that are close generally do try to trade their further away high upside assets for assets that are ready or closer to ready but lot's of times those asset's don't pan out.  Kind of surprising with Gil and Ynoa that both turned out actually better than expected at least to this point. So have some of the relievers the Twins have moved on from.  Their pen management kind of boggles my mind.  I have no idea what their strategy there is other than grabbing guys at the bottom of the barrel and trying to make them stick.

[Doctor Gast]

I just remember how well Jamie Gomez seemed to fit with the Twins, IMO his pitching looked better than his stats. And how sad I was when they traded him, because #1 I liked Gomez and #2 it was a premature white flag.

Looking at Atlanta this year and how they reacted at  the trade deadline. They were below .500 club yet they went for it. They went out and filled their holes, with players that on paper were rejects. But with them they were able to turn it around and win the World Series.

It's hard to foresee how well Ynoa and Gill would turn out. But IMO we could've used Gomez down the stretch and into the that post season.

[Blyleven2011]

Why does the front office trade starters to the yankees at trade deadline ... 

Lynn was traded a year later in 2018 at deadline , 

Yankees don't have a abundance of minor league talent because they are always trading prospects to improve now  ... 

Yankees keep beating the twins everytime  .....

They wanted Santana but they didn't have good prospects  to return to the twins  ...

[Brandon]

Zack Littell did have a good season before he had a bad one.  I thought it was strange he wasn't brought back for at least 1 more go around.  

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

My favorite Jaime Garcia may be just now when I found out that he is working with a Christian organization to provide safe water to developing countries.  

[ashbury]

Garcia earned 0.1 WAR in his stint with the Twins.  Extrapolated to a full season of starts, that would be 3.2, well above average.  Even more encouraging, his BABIP while with the team was an unsightly .421, relative to his career rate of about .300, suggesting even better results if his luck had been closer to normal.  All in all, it's high time the Twins retired Number 24 (maybe a co-retirement recognizing Ryan LaMarre).

Oh yeah, my favorite Jaime Garcia moment has to be that one time, it is very, very fair to say.