June 5: Kurtz relays that the Twins have announced a deal with Garcia for $180K.
June 4, 8:38PM: The KBO League’s LG Twins are in talks with Garcia about a contract, according to a Naver Sports report (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net).
5:08PM: The Cubs have released utilityman Robel Garcia, according to MiLB.com’s official transactions page. Garcia “is expected to pursue a career overseas,” Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register reports, so today’s move could be a precursor to Garcia quickly announcing a deal with a non-MLB team.
Garcia made his Major League debut with the Cubs in 2019 and hit a respectable .208/.275/.500 with five home runs over his first 80 plate appearances. This trip to the big leagues was the culmination of a rather unusual path for Garcia, who was out of affiliated baseball entirely from 2014-16 and then played two seasons in Italy before resurfacing in the Cubs’ minor league system.
From there, Garcia became a popular waiver claim candidate, as he was a member of five different organizations (Cubs, Reds, Mets, Angels, Astros) between July 2020 and February 2021. After finally landing in Houston, Garcia hit .151/.216/.208 over 117 PA in the Show last season.
This year, Garcia had been on fire with Triple-A Iowa, batting .295/.394/.619 with 12 home runs in 165 PA. However, as Birch observes, Garcia was seen as an expendable piece given the crowded state of Chicago’s infield. Even with some injuries recently surfacing within the infield picture, the writing seemed on the wall for Garcia when he wasn’t called up for even a cup of coffee in the majors to fill any of those vacancies. The 29-year-old Garcia will now look, for the second time, to revive his career with a stint in an international league.
This guy really needs Jobu’s help for real. Straight ball, he hits very much. Curve ball, bats are afraid.
Time to make an offering of cigar and rum.
Hats for bats. Keep bats warm.
When he was on the astros I would cringe anytime he came to the plate. Although I think he did have a walk off single
It remains to be seen where Garcia is headed.
As always, we await developments.
You just slipped Additional commentary not needed, All
Since when is hitting .205 with a .275 OBP “respectable”? Did they lower the bar?
2022
Slugging .500, OPS .775. That’s not terrible.
A 92 wRC+ and 95 OPS+ counts as “respectable” in my book, for a player’s first 80 PA in the majors.
Constantly lowering the bar in the never ending quest to attract new fans.
The Orix Buffaloes of the NPB could be the team signing Garcia as their foreign hitters have been dreadful this year.
Such a great AAAA player. Don’t fault him for wanting to secure the bag overseas rather than languishing in Des Moines.
Objectively, he can make much more in Korea than he can in the minors. As a 29 year old, his time to make six figures is dwindling.
$180k goes a lot farther in Korea!
Whoopee!
Well, there’s great public transportation. So, just not having to pay gas saves him a small fortune.