LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 8: Luis Garcia #57 of the Philadelphia Phillies kisses his glove as he walks off the field after pitching a scoreless eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on August 8, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
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The Philadelphia Phillies have been shuffling the bullpen as they look to correct virtually every facet of the team after a brutal start to the season.
The team has cycled through fringe roster options like Seth Johnson, Chase Shugart and Kyle Backhus as star closer Jhoan Duran recovers from an oblique injury. And Tuesday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs marked a low point for the pitching staff so far.
“Phillies pitchers walked an obscene 10 batters (and hit two more) in a 7-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs,” Jim Salisbury noted for NBC Sports Philadelphia. “They’ve only gotten 13 innings from their starting pitchers the last three games with a bullpen game (Kyle Backhus will start) on tap Wednesday night. Taijuan Walker is expected to get the bulk of the work in relief.”
The range of relief options employed by the team so far and the extent of their poor performances has been one of the harsher surprises for the Phillies this season. After trading away Matt Strahm and bringing in Brad Keller, it seemed like the team had assembled its most clearly defined bullpen in some time.
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Instead, the bullpen shuffle will continue for the foreseeable future. And in the meantime, the Phillies got an update on one long-time reliever who was recently cut by their division rival.
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Luis Garcia, who pitched for the Phillies from 2013 to 2018, racking up 223 strikeouts across 251 games in the process, joined the Minnesota Twins on a minor league contract this week, according to Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The news came shortly after the New York Mets released him.
“Garcia, 39, opened the season with the same Mets team against whom the Twins will open a road series tonight,” MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams reported on Tuesday. “He signed a one-year, $1.75MM contract in the offseason but was cut loose after only six appearances. In that time, Garcia was knocked around for six runs (five earned) on 11 hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts.”
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The Twins could use some relief corp reinforcement and a minor-league deal for a veteran like Garcia appears to be a relatively risk free way to take a shot at some remaining upside.
“Garcia’s velocity is down this year, but there’s little harm in taking a nearly free look at a veteran reliever who, in addition to that 3.86 ERA over the past five seasons, has punched out a solid 22.3% of his opponents against a sharp 7.8% walk rate and a huge 53% ground-ball rate,” Adams added.
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