15 worst Toronto Blue Jays free agent signings in franchise history

5. LHP Jaime García - one year, $8M (2017-2018 offseason)

García, a longtime member of the St. Louis Cardinals, came over to the Blue Jays at what ultimately was the end of his big league career. When he was healthy, he was one of the better left-handed pitchers in the game, but that was exactly this problem. He was never healthy.

After his eight-year tenure with the Cardinals, García played for three teams in 2017, the Braves, Yankees and Twins. He made 27 starts but his strikeouts were down and his 4.41 ERA and 4.25 FIP were not where he had been in previous years.

The Blue Jays signed him to a one year, $8M contract heading into the 2018 season in hopes of capturing lightning in a bottle and seeing him return to his 2010-2012 and 2015 form. 

There’s no way to describe García’s tenure in Toronto other than saying he stunk up the joint. His Jays debut was excellent: six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. Essentially every outing after that was a downhill descent for him.

As he fought through injuries all year long, García limped to a 5.93 ERA and 72 ERA+ in 74 innings for the Jays, making 25 total appearances with just 13 of them being starts. He struggled mightily to keep the ball in the ballpark and was an overall eyesore for the Jays and their rotation.

He wasn’t even able to make it through the full season. Released in August, García latched on with the Cubs and struggled there as well before retiring at the end of the season.