The Yankees have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Mets, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets designated Garcia for assignment last week. The Yankees had an open 40-man spot. Garcia is out of options, so they will need to open an active roster spot for him.
Garcia, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He then tossed 30 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 4.45 earned run average. He struck out 27.4% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a 14.8% clip.
The Mets lost a number of pitchers to the injured list in recent weeks and called Garcia up to the big leagues at the start of July. He got into two games and gave them 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He averaged over 96 miles per hour on his fastball while also throwing a slider, curveball and changeup. The Mets bumped him off the roster when Kodai Senga was reinstated from the IL.
The Yankee bullpen has recently taken a number of hits. Mark Leiter Jr., Fernando Cruz and Yerry De los Santos all hit the IL in the past few weeks. Jake Cousins has been on the IL all year but recently required Tommy John surgery.
Garcia was a freely-available arm who has posted some intriguing strikeout numbers this year, so the Yanks have grabbed him off the wire. Since he’s out of options, his grip on a roster spot may be tenuous. The Yanks, like all contenders, will surely be looking to make bullpen additions before the deadline.
The righty has also pitched for the Rockies, Giants, Orioles, Athletics and Nationals, but always in fairly limited stints. He has appeared in five major league seasons but has just 40 1/3 innings under his belt, posting a 6.47 ERA in that time. From 2022 to the present, he has 165 minor league innings with a 3.33 ERA, 31.7% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
LoL Why??? bring back Houdini?? does he still even want to play??
He does but Cashman (Steinbrenner) wasn’t feeling that luxury tax penalty for what D-Rob wanted
He’s the next Michael Tonkin. Get ready for him Minnesota.
And there you have it! Cash Man Making The Big Moves!
Putting the rest of the league on notice.
This is an interim roster patch at most. There are not actual big moves to make this far out from the deadline and with the draft still underway.
We are aware of that Pete. We’re just having some fun complaining about the shortcomings of the roster.
Lol OK fam carry on. Seen enough of people saying stuff like this straight faced here that poe’s law kicked in lol.
Unfortunately there’s no shortage of that.
You haven’t seen the last of Rico!
Cashman is kicking himself for not signing Mantiply. But don’t worry, Vinny Nittoli will be in pinstripes soon! Our bullpen is going to dominate now!
Thank you Cashman. Garcia pitching for you is going to cost you around 2 to 3 wins. Not our mess anymore
Still picking scraps from the garbage.
Over/under is 5 innings before they cut him , two week bandaid at best
Rico will be a body to throw on the mound when the Yankees need a guy to eat innings on a losing game. Then get the DFA the next day.
So are they going to address that rotation or not? Jays & Red Sox aren’t going to wait for them…
Rico Sauve to the Yankees for a theee-day stint. 2 games, 1.2 innings of mopup duty with 7 hits and 6 ER.
Then will be DFAd again. Trashman and Boonedoggle are geniuses with these moves!
He’s not what want. Or at least hasn’t been. I believe Yankees are second to last on waiver wire, meaning 27 teams passed last time. Next time thru, he could pass and Yankees would be able to stash him at AAA, if he excepts (think he has enough service time to refuse & become FA).
Might not even be worth the paperwork, but you never know.
This is a Suave move.
give him back !