Yimi Garcia’s 2025 season was prematurely ended last September by surgery to fix scar tissue in his throwing elbow. The right-hander’s recovery progress will stretch into at least the first bit of the 2026 campaign, as Garcia told Sportnet’s Shi Davidi that he will “100 percent” not be ready to pitch when the Blue Jays begin play on March 27.
It doesn’t appear as though Garcia will miss too much time, even if he does start the season on the 15-day injured list. “I feel good right now, I feel better than last season,” Garcia said, and he expects to start throwing off a mound perhaps as early as this week. Still, since the veteran reliever is “a little behind” in his throwing progression, it appears Garcia and the Jays are playing the long game in making sure he is fully ready for the coming season, even if that means some missed time in March and April.
To his chagrin, Garcia has been a frequent visitor to the IL in the last two seasons, as a variety of injuries have limited the righty to 61 appearances and 60 innings pitched for the Blue Jays and Mariners in 2024-25. Garcia missed time in 2024 with both neuritis and inflammation in his right elbow, and he was limited by a shoulder impingement (leading to a 60-day IL stint) and a sprained left ankle in 2025. Garcia hasn’t pitched since July 2, as his elbow issues resurfaced while he was rehabbing his ankle sprain.
All of these injuries would be a concern for any pitcher, especially a veteran like Garcia who is turning 36 this August. Garcia has still been pretty effective when he has been able to pitch, posting a 3.60 ERA and 30.5% strikeout rate over his last 60 IP. His walk rate did take a big leap upwards from 7.8% in 2024 to 13.3% in 2025, which could be viewed as an injury-related outlier given how Garcia’s previous career high BB% was 8.3%, and that came over 15 innings during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The Blue Jays dealt Garcia to the Mariners at the 2024 trade deadline, and despite his elbow issues, Toronto felt comfortable enough to bring the reliever back on a two-year, $15MM free agent deal last winter. It is quite possible that having a healthy Garcia in the bullpen might’ve put the Blue Jays over the top in the World Series, and the team is again viewing him as a key piece of the late-game mix. When healthy, Garcia will join postseason workhorse Louis Varland and new signing Tyler Rogers as the top set-up options to closer Jeff Hoffman.
A healthy Yimi Garcia is downright filthy. I was stoked when Dipoto traded for him in 2024, unfortunately he got hurt right away but if he had stayed healthy I’m sure the M’s would have made the postseason that year. Likewise last season if he was healthy Toronto might have a chip now. But man, he is lights out.
Pretty surprised he only has 2.8 WAR on baseball reference.
Same but if you look deeper he’s only got 419 innings pitched in his career (11 seasons). With a pedestrian 3.61 ERA, .426 winning % (23-31) and ERA+ of only 113 for a RP is not great.
If they have have him healthy down the stretch, he would be an incredible weapon. It’s a real shame how these injuries have held him back in recent years