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Pirates Designate Willy Garcia For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | December 31, 2016 at 8:30am CDT

The Pirates have designated outfielder Willy Garcia for assignment, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Twitter link).  The move creates roster space for the newly re-signed Ivan Nova.

Garcia, who turned 24 in September, has been rated by Baseball America in each of the last two years as the 12th-best prospect in the Pirates’ system.  His star may have dimmed, however, following a rough 2016 season that saw Garcia hit only .245/.293/.366 with six homers over 499 plate appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis.  Garcia struck out 131 times (against 31 walks), continuing his career-long issues with plate discipline.  This problem has offset his other talents, as the 2016 Baseball America Prospect Handbook credits Garcia with strong raw power, above-average baserunning ability and an outstanding throwing arm.

Garcia joins another Pirate (Jason Rogers) as one of six players around the league currently awaiting their next assignment, according to the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Willy Garcia

Extension Candidate: Carlos Martinez
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5 Key Stories: 12/24/16 – 12/30/16
View Comments (31)
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31 Comments

  1. greg91305

    9 years ago

    I was hopeful for Garcia.

    Reply
    • pirates937

      9 years ago

      Someone in the NL Central will probably get him and he will probably wind up being an all- star. That’s just how it goes for the bucs.

      Reply
      • Robertowannabe

        9 years ago

        Just out of curiosity, who have the Bucs DFA’d in the past that ended up as a all star somewhere else??

        Reply
  2. baseballfan 3

    9 years ago

    Seems like an odd DFA choice. Someone will scoop him up.

    Reply
    • jkim319

      9 years ago

      Agree … strange. Must be more to the story

      Reply
      • Gwynning's Anal Lover

        9 years ago

        I think they just DFA’d him. Just like Reece, Ramirez, Holt, Keon, Supak, Tito Polo, etc; they just don’t see value in the players in the system.

        Reply
        • jkim319

          9 years ago

          Yes … is it just me paying more attention or are teams bailing on more of their top prospects ‘sooner’ than before (not just Garcia, but also Shaffer (Rays #1 just last year) and Jenkins (cardinals top 10 3 years ago)…

          None of these 3 had major injury issues

          Reply
  3. Steven P.

    9 years ago

    Interesting they give up on a player who showed some power potential

    Reply
    • tsolid 2

      9 years ago

      6hrs in 499 plate appearances is Pwr Potential? Raw Pwr and Pwr frequency are two different things.

      Reply
      • Cam

        9 years ago

        Hence the word potential in his post.

        Reply
  4. pullhitter445

    9 years ago

    Why not white sox

    Reply
    • pullhitter445

      9 years ago

      Will and avi Garcia manning the corners seems to good to be true lol

      Reply
  5. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    9 years ago

    Gotta clear some room to reacquire Brady Dragmire, no doubt.

    Reply
    • jimmyz

      9 years ago

      This was the corresponding move for the Ivan Nova signing. Not sure how or why the league allowed it but the Pirates actually had 41 players on their 40 man roster for almost a week.

      Reply
      • tsolid 2

        9 years ago

        Prob cause they hadn’t “Officially” signed Nova. Had to get a physical, I’m sure

        Reply
        • jimmyz

          9 years ago

          Bucs officially announced the nova signing on tuesday, still carried an extra player for 4 days.

          Reply
    • stubby66

      9 years ago

      I don’t know in a year could this be last year’s Keon Broxton

      Reply
      • Robertowannabe

        9 years ago

        So Willy would be an outfielder that plays less than half of the 2017 season and is mediocre at the plate unless he plays against the Pirates.?

        Reply
    • pirates937

      9 years ago

      Absolutely right

      Reply
  6. jimmyz

    9 years ago

    Garcia has a great outfield arm and power potential but he strikes out a lot and doesnt really draw any walks. Hope he gets a decent shot at making the majors with whatever team claims him. Wish him the best.

    Reply
    • npalley98

      9 years ago

      So basically if alvarez played outfeild.

      Reply
      • Robertowannabe

        9 years ago

        Actually looks like Willy can play defense. Only 7 errors last year. Strikes out like Pedro but does not have the power numbes like Pedro

        Reply
        • davidcoonce74

          9 years ago

          Errors are not a good way to evaluate defense at all but 7 outfield errors is actually kind of a lot.

          Reply
    • stymeedone

      9 years ago

      Does anyone know which OF position he plays? If its CF, I’d love to see Detroit deal for him.

      Reply
      • jimmyz

        9 years ago

        Hes a corner outfielder mostly played in right because of his arm. Moves pretty well for his size/build but would be a disaster in center.

        Reply
      • BigSpence

        9 years ago

        I agree with that

        Reply
  7. stymeedone

    9 years ago

    Thanx for the insight.

    Reply
  8. Robertowannabe

    9 years ago

    To those who found it odd that the Pirates found it odd that they DFA’d Garcia, please tell me who they should have picked to drop from the 40 man to be able to add Nova?

    Reply
  9. EKocur57

    9 years ago

    It’s ok. We’re still keeping Wade LeBlanc on a major league roster

    Reply
    • Robertowannabe

      9 years ago

      At least until the make a move to add another vet to the starting rotation. To be honest he did do pretty good finishing the year it’s the Bucs. Several moves to be made I think and Willy would have been DF A’d at some point. Just hoping no one wants to put him on the 40 man and he elects to take the AAA assignment to Indy.

      Reply
  10. julyn82001

    9 years ago

    Heads up, Billy…

    Reply

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