Righty Freddy Garcia is nearing a deal with a club in Asia, Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com reports, though some details still need to be worked out. Reports out of Taiwan indicate that the EDA Rhinos — the former home of Manny Ramirez — is likely the team involved, Cotillo tweets.
Garcia seemed set to begin the season in a depleted Braves rotation, but Atlanta cut him loose in favor of fellow veteran Aaron Harang. Since that time, Garcia has reportedly been throwing to Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales while holding out for a major league offer. Last year, Garcia put up a 4.37 ERA (with 5.2 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9) in 80 1/3 innings.
The 37-year-old apparently drew plenty of interest from teams looking to stash him in Triple-A, which is not surprising given the number of injuries that have cropped up in recent months. Garcia could well be the best available rotation arm on the open market.
