NEWSLETTER
The Milwaukee Brewers are a small-to-mid market club – at best – with limited financial resources. So why do they keep making frustratingly solid (if unspectacular) moves?
The latest:
Avisail Garcia agrees to Brewers deal. 20M, 2 years
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 16, 2019
To be sure, this deal isn’t much of a surprise – word broke that a deal was close over the weekend – but it is a pretty good move for Milwaukee, nonetheless.
Here’s what Brett had to say when the rumors first trickled out:
Never the star many thought he could be in his younger days – or that he teased in his 2017 season – Garcia has nevertheless turned into a probably-pretty-darn-solid bat and passable defensive outfielder. With the Rays last year, Garcia posted a .282/.332/.464 line with a 112 wRC+, which was basically earned by the peripherals. Indeed, as a line-drive guy with a lot of hard contact, Garcia is always going to post an elevated BABIP (.340 last year), and his hard contact has increased each of the last three years. There’s probably some additional upside here.
Garcia actually has a somewhat similar profile to that of free agent Nick Castellanos (and is also just 28), with a line-drive stroke, no walks, and around league-average strikeouts (touch more than Castellanos). There almost certainly is not quite as much total offensive upside, though, and Castellanos has done it consistently for a lot longer. Garcia rates better defensively than Castellanos, for what it’s worth.
That is all to say, Garcia is likely a solid overall bat, and would replace Mike Moustakas’s total production, if not the power production, specifically. Defensively, Garcia would probably slot into left field (or right field, if Christian Yelich moves back over there), with Ryan Braun primarily playing first base.
If you’re looking for a little bright-side, Garcia’s $10M AAV was at the high-end of what he was expected to get this winter. On the other hand, it’s not all that difficult to be worth about that much.
UPDATE: Garcia apparently turned down a three-year deal from the team with which he ultimately signed a two-year deal. That’s funny/weird/unusual. Then again, it’s entirely possible that the Brewers were offering 3 years and $24 million or 2 years and $20 million. Then it doesn’t sound so wild, right?
Avisail Garcia turned down 3 year deals with Brewers and elsewhere due to the expiring basic agreement in 2 years and the chance to raise the AAV afterward. Betting on himself #brewers
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 16, 2019
There aren’t many offseason implications of this signing, but I will add that the Rays were a threat to re-sign Garcia. Now that they haven’t, they might turn to the remaining free agents or trade markets to find a right-handed bat to add to their lineup. Connect dots as you will (but think Contreras, more than Bryant, if you do).
