4:27pm: White Sox GM Ken Williams said he talked to Garcia but not recently, tweets Scott Merkin of MLB.com. No formal offer was made, according to Merkin, nor did Garcia reject one.
12:09pm: The White Sox are considering Freddy Garcia, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). The White Sox will have starting options even if they don't sign the right-hander, since Chris Sale could join the rotation and Jake Peavy is recovering from July shoulder surgery and should return midseason.
Garcia logged 157 innings for the White Sox last year, posting a 4.64 ERA with 5.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. He was a key member of the 2005 White Sox team that won the World Series and started 33 games for the club the following season.
Chicago expressed interest in re-signing Garcia back in September, but the sides haven't been publicly linked since. The Yankees and Orioles were interested in Garcia earlier in the month and both clubs could still have interest. Over 14% of 18,293 MLBTR voters say Garcia is the best free agent starter remaining at this point in the offseason.
If CWS signs Garcia, Jon Heyman will have overtaken Kenny for the scoops lead.
FYI, Peavy is already 2 months ahead of schedule and is throwing off a mound. I bet he’s ready by May 1st, not “midseason”.
yeah and he’ll be ready to re join the disabled list by mid season
“best free agent starter remaing”……………. tallest midget.
He’s not even that.
So the correct answer is…………..?
I thought we caught lighting in a bottle last year with Freddy’s 5th starter stats… let’s not push it. Unless it’s for cheeeeaaaaapppppp….
My biggest concern: If we sign him, who’s 25-man roster spot would he take?
Peavy – he’d go on the DL.
There are only 11 pitchers who are guaranteed spots in the 25 on the roster right now, and that includes Peavy. There will be at least one more from somewhere, be it a rookie or a free agent signing. If Peavy starts the year on the DL, then we need to add two.
why are you saying only 11? ozzie could easily go with a 12 pitcher roster(5 starters 7 relievers) with the way the position players SHOULD pan out its 1st konerko,2nd beckham, SS alexi, 3rd morell, left juan, CF rios, RF carlos, C AJ, DH Adam…with a bench of omar(IF back up), dyan(IF/DH back up), teahan(OF backup, should be traded to allow jordan danks to come in), lilibridge(could be jordan danks), castro(thats a total 14 position players….oh never mind now i see where the 11 comes from my bad)
I really hope it was haymen who said peavy will return MIDSEASON and not ben…he is already throwing off a mound and cooper said he is farther ahead than anyone thought(even though no one has ever had this injury in the bigs before)…and the title should have a sub title that reads “whitesox considering freddy garcia”: “Ozzie called his brother in law and said hey man your pitching for us again for around 2 mill, cool? I dont even know why I’m asking because you have no choice”
I just don’t want this to be a Jose Contreras type thing were we rush Peavy back and he is terrible for the 1st 2 months of the season.
That’s immediately what I was thinking when I heard he was “ahead of schedule”. I mean if your paying the guy almost $20 million next season he better be good when he pitches. Its bad too because you don’t know what your going to get. Is he going to be the guy from the end of 09 when he was dominant in a couple starts late in the season? Is he going to be the pitcher from the first couple months of last year when he was absolutely awful? Is he going to be the same guy who looked like he turned a corner right before the injury? Is he even going to be able to throw a baseball?
thats the ting about ahead of schedule…its peavy thats doing it rehabbing and working on him self no cooper….cooper is the one saying that he is surprised how quickly peavy has come on..
The only problem with this is that when peavy comes back what happens to freddy? he moves to the pen? that makes no sense because he takes for ever to get ready there is no way he could just come in within one inning.
True, but I’d much rather have too much pitching than not enough pitching.
He’d have to come cheap enough that you could DFA him if/when that time came. Other option is hide him in the pen as 12th pitcher (can he be worse than Harrell/Humber/Marquez?)
i actually would not mind seeing harrell as the 5th guy untill peavy comes back and then as the emergency guy. He had a pretty good season in the minors last year. and will not matter what be cheaper and once peavy comes back he could be moved back to the minors
If you’re the Sox, you can’t assume Peavy is going to remain injury-free even after he comes back. Garcia would be a pretty darn good insurance policy in case Peavy has a setback or gets hurt again.
You also can’t assume Freddy’s gonna be anything more than replacement level.
by that notion you cant assume any player with or without an injury history is going to remain injury free…the shoulder injury with peavy is the first in his career that is related to pitching and even the doctor all said it was a freak injury
So let me get this straight. After all the decent pitchers come off the board, it suddenly occurs to them that they might need some extra depth.
all those decent pitchers were very expensive and would have needed a full season of starting..the sox are looking for an emergency type starter.
Still better options than Garcia.
I’m really surprised that the Yankees haven’t signed Garcia already. He has to be a safer bet than Colon.
a fly ball pitcher in that park?
Garcia’s flyball % is pretty similar to Colon’s. Actually they have a lot of similarities. The main difference that I see is that Garcia showed last year that he could start 28 games whereas who know how many Colon could be counted on to start.
Colon has a minor league contract, I’d be surprised if he pitches for the Yanks this year. Colon and Prior are just the Yanks trying to catch lightning in a bottle.
Some reports say he was pitching well in the D.R. and even lost weight.
Does this mean Sale will be a bullpen guy this year?
closer probably..his stuff is nasty and he has the make up for closing as shown last year….it would be a great way for him to get MLB experience without being hurt in his development. I just hope he is not the closer for long term. the market is flooded with relief pitchers who can close next season and sale is the next big thing in terms of sox starters
I agree with you in wanting him to be a starter. Next year, Buerehle and Edwin Jackson might be gone, Peavy’s future remains questionable. He may be 100% or he may never be the same again.
Either way, there will be openings in the 2012 Sox rotation and Sale is going to be cheap and probably dominant for years.
If I was Kenny or Ozzie, I would want him starting 30-35 games a year.
I do want him starting 30-35 times a year and i think they do to but not thins year…he helps the team more by being the closer then being in the minors
what about Thornton?
what about him? he is the best set up guy in the league and is more comfortable setting up then closing as he has said before. He is a great option but if you have him there and sale as the closer for one season why screw things up
Doesn’t make any sense to put Sale as the closer, sorry I disagree with you. Maybe you could use the comparison of Nefalti Feliz last year but I really don’t see that happening. Thornton will be the closer.
Lets go internally. I really like Marquez, give him a shot a long with the rest of the scrubs.
If Peavy starts the year on the DL, then we need two pitchers to make 12. In my mind that is one rookie and one FA. I’d prefer to see Justin Dutcherser (sp off I’m sure). He does well when healthy both starting and from the bullpen, and has much more upside than Freddie.
Id like to see Freddy back. It makes the pen alot stronger with Sale there and gives the Sox a better option than anything they currently have in the minors.
Wow…just read what I wrote. The farm system is really bad to rely on Garcia but thats the way it is.
I still think Sale belongs in the pen to begin with.
the sox will not resign freddy. he wants to be a starter (as he has been throughout his career). the only scenario where i can see this happening is if kenny trades away someone like jackson or floyd and needs another starter. starting pitching for the white sox is among the tops in baseball, even with peavy as a question mark. he could be a nice bullpen addition, but that scenario is again unlikely. look for freddy to sign a one year deal with a club or a minor league contract with an invite to spring training for someone.