Sept. 4: The Cubs announced today that they’ve selected Garcia’s contract. He’s been added to the big league roster, with Mark Zagunis landing on the 60-day DL to make roster space. Chicago will only owe Garcia the pro-rated league minimum — about $81K through season’s end. The Blue Jays are on the hook for the remainder of his guaranteed salary.
Aug. 31: The Cubs are set to sign lefty Jaime Garcia to a minor league contract, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand had just tweeted that Garcia was “likely” to sign with the Cubs following yesterday’s release by the Blue Jays. Garcia is a client of Moye Sports Associates.
Garcia’s one-year, $10MM deal with the Jays yielded poor results — a 5.93 ERA through 74 1/3 innings — but Sherman notes that the Cubs plan to take a look at him in the bullpen. He’ll head to the Cubs’ Triple-A bullpen for a few relief appearances, and the hope appears to be that he can be used as a weapon against left-handed opponents. Through 89 plate appearances against left-handed hitters this season, Garcia allowed just a .183/.250/.388 batting line.
[Related: Chicago Cubs depth chart]
So long as the deal becomes official today, Garcia would be eligible for the Cubs’ postseason roster in the event that his transition to relief role proves beneficial. That’s clearly not a guarantee, given his disastrous results in Toronto this year, but there’s little harm for the Chicago organization in exploring the possibility. Currently, the team has Justin Wilson, Randy Rosario and Jorge De La Rosa as southpaw options in the bullpen, with Brian Duensing also working his way back from a shoulder issue.
Theo and Jed strike again!! Go Cubs, Go!
The Cubs are very fortunate Theo and Jed. They absolutely know how to judge talent other than by the metrics. They are constantly making sensible trades to acquire impact players. They know when to cut ties with aging players and aren’t afraid to do it. Their Free Agency acquisitions have unquestionably been impact pitchers and impact bats to take the Cubs to the top levels in MLB. The Cardinals MLB team continues to suffer with their inept president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak. Mozeliak’s idea of fortifying the Cardinals at trading deadlines or during winter free agency is to do NOTHING!!! I do stand corrected! Mozeliak does acquire low hanging fruit to sign to multi year high dollar contract that the Cardinals generally have to eat. Congratulations on having knowledgeable individuals in the Cubs front office that truly cares about the Cubs each individual season.
Wait until he pitches….reason a team like the BJay’s didn’t even want him.
Cubs seem to be strictly bottom feeding looking for lightning in a bottle where there most probably isn’t any.
Rocky, lol, my thoughts exactly…The only place where he travels to is to another team.
Bad Move and it happens to
Great GM’S once in a while!!
Yeah the Darvish, Chatwood & Heyward signings have really worked out for the Cubs.
To be fair, Heyward has been better this year, but no where near close to justifying his mammoth contract
WOW! Huge acquisition here!!
You haven’t watched him
If you did this year you’d be less excited
Pure sarcasm. Surprised you missed one so obvious.
Agreed, but I swear Epstein is bottom feeding as bad as is Dan Duquette now. looking for that slight (ever so) chance of upside in discards, only Duquette has an excuse.. A tightwad owner and Epstein doesn’t
It’s a 197 league.
That’s what some were saying when they acquired Hamels.
What else is available this time of year? Hamel and Murphy were far from at the bottom. This is a situational lefty he’s picking up for nothing that might be used for one batter a game, Theo is always a step ahead of the others.
No Hamels has a pedigree….this mutt doesn’t!
Hamels HAD a pedigree. In Philly. The move for Hamels was seen here as a total bust before Cole Hamels threw one pitch. Guess all the experts that post here got that one wrong. Let’s give one a chance. You never know.
He may have been horrible all year but has incredible numbers at Busch stadium…he will be better in the NL
jp, last year too, and b4
Here we go! Cubs are doing great now! Get the former ace of their greatest rivals. Now the Cardinals have no chance of defeating the Cubs.
Hope this is sarcasm…he’s got a 5.93 ERA in 13 starts this year. Hasn’t been good since 2015
Isn’t a 5.93 ace level compared to the rest of Cardinals pitchers? And the Cubs have him on a very affordable contract now!
I truly can’t tell what’s sarcasm lol. The cardinals rotation has been really solid (as much as I hate to admit it). He’s affordable now because he isn’t good….a soft tossing lifting with a near 6 ERA you can find sitting on his couch at home without a job
Yeah that comment didnt even get you troll equivalence. Usually a good troll message has a nugget of truth. The Cardinals pitching is actually the reason they are in the race. Try following baseball.
I’ve never seen sarcasm on this site. Fake news. Sad.
Not just starting pitching, we have a manager that sticks to fundamentals, depth of talent we brought up and Carpenter and crew are on a tear. Brewers you guys blew it by not getting pitching, Cubs welcome to 2015 except the roles are reversed.
Little early to be going back into Cardinal bragging mode, don’t ya think? Give it a minute.
haha so you will be swept by the Mets in the playoffs? good luck lol
Jeez for a team that barely has a wild card lead with a month to go some of you cardinal fans are ridiculous. I honestly hope the Brewers beat the crap out of them and knock them right out. If they are even in it. Still a month to go
Cubs may want to start worrying about the Brewers themself since they cant seem to know how to beat them pitching or not
Through 89 plate appearances against left-handed hitters this season, Garcia allowed just a .183/.250/.388 batting line.P
Yeah I don’t think most people read the article. Signed to be a reliever because he has killed against lefties.
No, read the article and still think he stinks…..has only had success against lefties and can be a 1 batter weapon.
The playoffs are a whole different scenario and he’ll be up against the best with everything on the line….this guys folds like a cheap suit in pressure.
Righties are lighting him up at a .290 clip.
Still say the cubs are bottom feeding and if they can afford to have this guy as a weapon….well go for it but please don’t crow about what a great find his guy is….he’s the best of the garbage out there at this time.
brew,
amen!!
umm to be a former ace he would to have to be an ace other than 2011 (his rookie year iirc) where he had ace stuff spent most of his time here on the dl. I hope the best for him maybe he can flourish in the bullpen but i think his body is to worn down at this point
Garbage starter this year, pitched well out of the bullpen in August. May flourish in Chicago.
Garcia was actually useful in the Jays ‘pen (at least compared to everyone else, it’s an awful ‘pen) he gave up 7 ER in 12 appearances but those 7 ER were just from 2 bad outings. The other 10 he looked really good.
If they want to go to a 6 man rotation to give more rest to some of the older starters, then why not see if Garcia has anything left? Can’t be worse than Mills in his last start.
He better get down to Iowa fast, their season is over Monday.
Tennessee, Eugene, Myrtle Beach and South Bend are only playing until Monday as well, so will apparently be a very quick look
He’ll pitch a couple of times then be with the Cubs unless something happens
strange to me when ever a player leaves st Louis they suck. makes u wonder.
Tommy Pham is doing ok, Piscotty and Grichuk are doing ok. Pujols?
Tommy Pham has played much better since landing in TB. Randall Grichuk is still the same Randall Grichuk. Mike Leake has been better since leaving StL. Piscotty has rebounded from last year, and been decent with Oakland.
“It’s baseball. Sometimes you suck.” (Joe Maddon)
I thought the opposite! When players arrive in St. Louis they regress. Fowler, Holland, Ozuna, Cecil, Gerko, etc.
Gyorko has not regressed. He’s been good in StL. Ozuna has started to turn it around but has been dealing with a shoulder injury all season. Holland was a disaster. Fowler decent last year, bad this year. We’ll see where it ends up with him.
Also every team can say this it’s sports doofus, players age have up/down years, injuries, gain experience. Jaime is damaged goods compared to what he used to be before he went under the knife many times.
Yeeesssss! Poop Pants!
I can’t stop laughing
As a Cardinal fan, I applaud this move.
I love how 90% of you think every trade/signing has to be a blockbuster or else its a joke.
Its a minor league deal. What’s the harm in seeing if he can get a few LH hitters out?
Exactly. It’s small deals like this that win championships. If he can find the magic in Chicago, again, this guy will be a huge weapon.
The magic left the building a long time ago!
It’s a 1 year deal. Does that mean 10 mil for Sept and October? Or next season as well.
That means that Toronto already paid him that.
Can he play 2nd base?
It’s a free look at a guy who gets LHB out.
I don’t know how some of you functiin in daily life.
You believe every move has to be a huge big name, All Star level guy.
When those moves are made, any sign of syeuggles and you cry about over paying.
It goes back to getting Jake, Strop, etc.
A goid deal is always luck and a bad deal is always management is stupid.
By the way, deep pocketed owners still have limits.
But, yeah Murphy was a bottom feeder deal.
Spellcheck is always a good idea Cub fan!
This is a depth signing. He has a whole month to show them he can be a bullpen piece for the playoffs. If he doesn’t work out then no big deal. Maybe he finds something with the cubs. Hamels has benefited from the playoff atmosphere and the Cubs defense.
Ain’t gonna matter. The way the cubs are playing they will be out of it by September 15th
The cubs are fine. Did you know they haven’t lost a series since July? Split some but haven’t lost one until this last one against the Brewers. The Cubs are talented enough and the teams chasing them are not scary enough for them to miss the playoffs at this point imo. I understand having that sort of feeling after a few tough losses though
Look at the upcoming schedules for all three central contenders. Cubs have the hardest and the Brewers the easiest. They are running out of gas. The Brewers are hungrier but the cardinals could sneak in
I love listening to cub fans squirm.
We are not squirming I’m being realistic. It won’t kill me if my team is t in the playoffs. I’ve see. The Blackhawks and Cubs in 10 playoff series since 2010 and celebrated 3 cups and one World Series. I’ve always hated seeing the same damn team win every year. With that being said I wouldn’t lose sleep if the Brewers could somehow make it to the World Series. But good luck against any of those big three American League teams. They will need it.
Two guys in this lineup are a shell of other years- Bryant and Contreras. They do not produce HRs. Unless they produce, this team goes nowhere. Maybe they luck out and make the playoffs. Then, one and done. Bryant is being paid $10M to hit HRs, not go 1-4 with 3 Ks and a single. I’m a Cub fan but know when we have problems. Without these 2 returning to normalcy, it pretty well over.
To be fair Bryant hasn’t played in awhile but I agree with you on Contreras. Russel is having a bad year lost his starting job and Schwarber just pretty much hits homeruns. As I told the Cardinal fan that always runs his mouth, I won’t lose sleep this year if they don’t make it. There needs to be a little more turnover next year for sure. Might be time to try to trade a few expendable pieces.
Yet somehow they have the best record in the league
Ok Simschifan. That is 9 more days. Lets see how smart you are. I will check with you in 9 days and see if the Cubs are out of it
Cardinal fans are hilarious. 5.5 games out with 22 to go. They are 2.5 up on the wild card.. meaning the Cubs are 8 games up if they fall out of first in the division. If they go .500 the rest of the season, someone would have to go 19-3 just to tie them. They are making the playoffs. At .500 for the Cardinals to overtake the Cubs, the Cards would have to go 18-4.