Blue Jays: Jaime Garcia has not gotten the job done

Left-handed starting pitcher Jaime Garcia has been unimpressive since joining the Toronto Blue Jays in the winter. If he wants to remain as the fifth starter, he needs to start giving the team some length.

I’ll be the first to admit, I had very high hopes for Jaime Garcia. He was signed to a one-year, $8 million contract and came into the season with an ERA of 3.69. He has a career record of 69-58 and appeared to be the ideal candidate to serve as this team’s fifth starter.

Unfortunately, though, things haven’t been so great for Garcia so far this season. In eight starts, he’s gone 2-3 with a 6.28 ERA, going an average of 4.2 innings per start. After his start in New York on Tuesday, his WHIP stands at 1.655, he’s walked 21 batters, and has struck out 38. It’s safe to say that Garcia has not been the pitcher the Jays hoped for him to be when they signed him in the offseason. He’s struggled heavily with the long ball and has yet to pitch into the seventh inning in any of his starts.

Now, this isn’t to say that all is lost for Garcia, in fact quite the opposite. As mentioned above, Garcia sports a 3.69 career ERA prior to this season, pitching over 1000 major league innings, most of them in the tough NL Central. He’s a seasoned veteran who surely knows how to escape a slump.

Just last season while pitching with the Yankees, Garcia went eight starts without completing six innings. During that stretch, he pitched to a 4.82 ERA, had a record of 0-3, and tossed just 37.1 frames. While it’s hard to ignore his struggles early on, he’s no stranger to elongated periods of ineffectiveness.

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One thing that’s great about signing guys to one-year deals is the ability to part ways with them if it’s absolutely necessary. Cutting ties with a pitcher who only has a few months remaining is easier than letting go of a player who is signed for multiple seasons. A last resort for the Jays could be to release him entirely if he continues to get knocked around.

Conversely, Garcia being a lefty gives him extra value on the trade deadline market. Just look at Francisco Liriano, who pitched to a 5.88 ERA before being traded to Houston at the 2017 trade deadline. Liriano wasn’t all that great with the Jays but still managed to bring back Teoscar Hernandez in what now is seen as a severely lopsided deal. It’s also worth noting that Liriano is no longer with the Astros, having signed a one year deal with the Tigers in February.

Jaime Garcia and Francisco Liriano have little in common aside from their handedness and struggles north of the border, but can still serve as a decent comparable for deciding what to do with Garcia.

In all likeliness, the Jays will stick with Jaime Garcia until the end of the June (at least). If he’s still scuffling, the above options might have to be considered more strongly. With many teams looking for left-handed pitching options down the stretch, we could hear Garcia’s name come up should the Jays decide to sell.

Until then, let’s just hope that Garcia can get things back on track, because with all the problems that this rotation is having, a sub par fifth starter is the last thing they need.

Next: Blue Jays’ Troy Tulowitzki progressing toward a return