Finally the Milwaukee Brewers' offseason is starting to take shape. After inking Mark Reynolds to a deal last week, the Brewers have boosted their pitching staff by adding Matt Garza on a 4 year $52 million deal. He will join the likes of Yovani Gallardo, Kyle Lohse, Marco Estrada, and Wily Peralta in what could be a sneaky strong starting rotation in 2014.
Garza, 30, broke into the league in 2006 with the Minnesota Twins as a starter and has been a good, but not great pitcher since. He has been pretty consistent and was a good innings eater up until the 2012 season when injuries started to get to him. Since 2007, Garza has started at least 15 games each season, and has had an ERA under 4 each and every year. He has a solid career K/9 of 7.6 to go along with a BB/9 rate of 3.0. If Garza can avoid another injury in 2014, he will be a great addition to the Brewers staff, and should be counted on to throw nearly 200 innings at a sub 4.00 ERA.
Garza was traded midseason this past season, meaning the Brewers will not lose a draft pick in the signing. At 4 year $52 million, the Brewers gave up less than many thought going into the offseason, and Graza will end up earning only $3 million more then Ricky Nolasco, who signed with the Twins earlier this offseason, will over the life of his contract. This is a good signing for the Brewers as it makes them significantly better for the 2014 season. It also gets rid of some of the question marks that they would have had for filling the 5 spot in their rotation. Once again, if he can avoid injury, Garza could end up being a steal for the Brewers. I don't think it allows them to compete for a playoff spot, but it's another strong pitcher to build around, and if they can find some more bats in the next few years, they might be able to build something.
Garza, 30, broke into the league in 2006 with the Minnesota Twins as a starter and has been a good, but not great pitcher since. He has been pretty consistent and was a good innings eater up until the 2012 season when injuries started to get to him. Since 2007, Garza has started at least 15 games each season, and has had an ERA under 4 each and every year. He has a solid career K/9 of 7.6 to go along with a BB/9 rate of 3.0. If Garza can avoid another injury in 2014, he will be a great addition to the Brewers staff, and should be counted on to throw nearly 200 innings at a sub 4.00 ERA.
Garza was traded midseason this past season, meaning the Brewers will not lose a draft pick in the signing. At 4 year $52 million, the Brewers gave up less than many thought going into the offseason, and Graza will end up earning only $3 million more then Ricky Nolasco, who signed with the Twins earlier this offseason, will over the life of his contract. This is a good signing for the Brewers as it makes them significantly better for the 2014 season. It also gets rid of some of the question marks that they would have had for filling the 5 spot in their rotation. Once again, if he can avoid injury, Garza could end up being a steal for the Brewers. I don't think it allows them to compete for a playoff spot, but it's another strong pitcher to build around, and if they can find some more bats in the next few years, they might be able to build something.