The Giants have claimed southpaw Jarlin Garcia off waivers from the Marlins. In a corresponding move, righty Burch Smith was designated for assignment.
It’s not surprising at all to see these two teams line up on a transaction of this nature. The Giants have claimed pitcher after pitcher under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, quite often going on to attempt to slip them through waivers. And the Marlins have dropped a variety of interesting but not-yet-established relief pitchers this winter, with quite a few landing on other 40-man rosters.
Garcia was rather successful last year, compiling 50 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball. He lacks eye-popping strikeout numbers, but does get a solid number of groundballs and was quite successful at limiting hard contact. Garcia also found equal success against right and left-handed hitters in 2019, though fielding-independent pitching measures suggested he was much more effective when facing southpaw swingers.
As for Smith, he was added through the waiver wire last August. The 29-year-old had some effective outings last in the year with San Francisco but has obviously yet to show he’s a reliable MLB relief option. Over 135 2/3 career innings at the game’s highest level, Smith carries a 6.57 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9.
Good pick up, should still be a Marlin.
Hard to figure out what’s up in Fishtown. They have waived/DFA’d multiple members of the BP from last season who were decent and kept members who weren’t.
Yeah, the Marlins offseason has been very confusing on the pitching side.
The Angels should have claimed this guy instead of the other one.
Jarlin Garcia probably didn’t make it to the Angels. Waivers is kind of a confusing process. Giants are able to claim player before they get to the Angels if they were on waivers from the Marlins
Exactly. Since the Marlins are an NL club, every NL team has a shot until the AL gets their turn.. Even if the Giants didn’t claim him it’s doubtful the Angels get a opportunity to claim him.
Worth a shot; possible swing man.
im assuming they expect to use him in the pen, but he is a curious option for the 5 spot as well
The new GM Scott Harris has really been making some underrated moves this offseason.
Harris isn’t in charge
If you’re picking up castoffs from the Marlins you’re in big trouble.
Indeed
You obviously didn’t look at his stats, and apparently didn’t even read the article. Any lefty that had a 3.02 ERA in over 50 IP, limits hard contact, can get RHHs out, and induces a lot ground balls, could help a lot of teams. The issue is not that he’s not good enough for even the Marlins, it’s why the Marlins would waive a guy with such a good profile..
Agreed, when I first read about the soft contact I was like wtf marlins
Not a bad lotto ticket to pick up on the cheap.
I feel like Garcia would’ve been a better bullpen option than Gaviglio and maybe even Bass/Font, especially since they don’t have a set lefty right now.
World Series Bound!
How was fanfest? Did you get your favorite players autograph?
No, but I saw your boyfriend there. He said you guys were having problems. Hope everything works out!
I knew you’d be there. You closet Giants fan you.
I saw your name on the bathroom wall, righty. It said, “for a good time”…
Righty was cruising fan fest.
*has an ERA in the low 3’s* *is the only valid proving stat to talent apparently*
I’d prefer a guy who can prevent runs to someone who strikes out a bunch while also giving up the farm.
Make that 3.02 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 4.74 xFIP.
Why was Garcia available? He was our best lefty reliever last year. Did they start letting Mike Hill make decisions again?
This offseason was going nicely, but they guarantee Joyce a MLB contract and they have Jarlin Garcia on waivers?
Now I know a lefty specialist is not a make or break guy for a team, but you don’t give one up when he was a bright spot on a shaky bullpen.
I agree. The Marlins have DFA’d / cut / traded 4 or 5 young relief pitchers this season, and have not received much in return for any of them. I could see them releasing age 30-33 relievers but they are cutting 23-27 year olds which seems really strange unless they have quietly compiled a bunch of BP prospects in the minors they feel better about. It seems to be more Statcast driven than results driven as Garcia put up very solid results in 2018, just without many strikeouts. I could see at least 2 or 3 of their castoffs having successful seasons in the majors this year, including Garcia.
Yeah, I can see that happening with some of those relievers too.
What really is bothersome about this particular move with Jarlin Garcia, is when I think about how many years the Marlins tolerated the likes of Renyel Pinto and Mike Dunn, but then we let a kid like this go after he’s shown some potential and had a strong season like he did. I know that this ownership was not responsible for Pinto and Dunn being here so long, but they are responsible for moving on from Garcia so quickly. I hope this is because they see something that none of us see…like they saw with Baraclaugh.
Is it possible that the MIA FO does not possess an abundance of baseball IQ?
105 losses on the way.
Burch Smith is one of the most miserable human beings I’ve ever met.
Interesting. Any further detail??
Burch Smith pitched in 10 games as a Padre 7 years ago. How come I remember this useless trivia???
I don’t even remember the hot lady’s name who stops to talk to me in her bikini top.
Argh!
Even I remember her name!