Yankees Get Veteran Pitcher Jaime Garcia From Twins
Some players have spent all month trapped in a blizzard of rumors — while staying in one place — as baseball’s nonwaiver trade deadline approaches on Monday at 4 p.m. Then there is the veteran starting pitcher Jaime Garcia.
Garcia, 31, joined the Yankees on Sunday morning in a deal with the Minnesota Twins, who had acquired him in a trade with the Atlanta Braves on July 24. The left-handed Garcia made one start for the Twins, a victory in Oakland on Friday, and now he is moving again.
The Yankees, who entered Sunday with a half-game lead over Boston in the American League East, needed a starter to fortify a rotation that has lost Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery. The rotation also includes two young starters, Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery, who may face innings limitations as the summer goes on.
Acquiring Garcia, who can be a free agent after the season, would not preclude the Yankees from trading for Sonny Gray of the Oakland Athletics. Gray cannot be a free agent until after the 2019 season and would slot near the front of the Yankees’ rotation, thus commanding a better package of prospects.
In the Garcia deal, the Yankees sent two minor league pitchers to Minnesota: the Class AAA left-hander Dietrich Enns and the Class AA right-hander Zack Littell. Enns, 26, has a 2.29 earned run average in seven starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Littell, 21, is 14-1 with a 1.87 E.R.A. between Class A Tampa and Class AA Trenton this season and is ranked as the Yankees’ No. 22 prospect by MLB.com.
Garcia spent the first eight seasons of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, going 62-45 with a 3.57 E.R.A. and making seven starts in the postseason. He was 4-7 with a 4.30 E.R.A. in 18 starts for the Braves this season, before his victory for the Twins on Friday.
