Yankees Acquire Jaime Garcia: Fantasy Impact
By Bill Pivetz
The Yankees found a starting pitcher to bolster their rotation. While it isn’t a high-profile name, Jaime Garcia provides depth and security.
The New York Yankees have been in search of a starting pitcher throughout this whole season. With the inconsistencies of Masahiro Tanaka and injury to Michael Pineda, another arm or two in the rotation will definitely cure some insecurities.
There have been plenty of rumors around the Yankees acquiring Sonny Gray but nothing has come to fruition yet. What feels like something coming out of nowhere, the Yankees did add another arm to the rotation as first reported by Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman.
yanks and twins are in agreement on a jaime garcia tarde
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 30, 2017
This move comes in less than a week after Jaime Garcia was traded to the Minnesota Twins.
For the season, Garcia has a pretty good line between his time with the Twins and Atlanta Braves. In 119.2 innings, 19 starts, he posted a 4.29 ERA, 1.337 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and 5-7 record. The last stat could see improvement now that he joins a red-hot Yankees team with a solid lineup.
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Garcia also has a 0.9 HR/9 which will come in handy as he will make a few starts at the hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium. His 4.04 FIP shows that his performance is what we should expect for the rest of the season.
Garcia has been pretty consistent for the season. He has 11 quality starts and 15 of his 19 starts have gone at least six innings. Even with the added depth to the bullpen, having an innings-eating pitcher will help relax some of those arms.
His batted ball stats look good as well. Garcia has a 55.0 percent ground ball rate, 26.9 percent fly ball rate and 12.4 percent HR/FB rate. He also has a 28.4 percent hard hit rate, his lowest in three seasons. Garcia also has an 11.5 swinging strike rate, his highest since 2014.
Garcia is owned in just 18.7 percent of ESPN leagues, up 9.6 percent over the last week. I think that will continue to go up as he moves to a better team.
This move doesn’t mean the Yankees are out on Gray but they added a rental to their rotation. Garcia is not a big fly ball pitcher, which is good for Yankee Stadium and the American League East. He is a good late-season add in AL-only leagues and a spot starter in standard leagues.