Tigers interested in free agent Freddy Garcia

Tigers interested in free agent Freddy Garcia

The Tigers have contacted the representatives for free agent right-hander Freddy Garcia, an indication that they are seeking to add veteran talent in the middle of a still-hopeful season.

Garcia’s agent, Peter Greenberg, said in an e-mail to the Free Press this morning that a Detroit official contacted him on Monday to express the team’s interest.

Garcia, 32, has not pitched since last season and is currently rehabilitating from shoulder surgery. Greenberg said in the e-mail that Garcia is now throwing at 75% intensity and should be ready to pitch in a showcase for scouts next month.

According to that timetable, Garcia could be ready to pitch in the majors by August.

“There has been substantial interest from many clubs,” Greenberg said. “We are excited about getting Freddy into the right situation and watching him help someone in August, September, and hopefully October.”

It’s impossible to know where the Tigers will be in the standings when Garcia makes his decision, but their postseason hopes were buoyed by a recent six-game winning streak.

Garcia could be an added veteran presence in a Detroit rotation that will be without Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis for an indefinite length of time. The rotation currently includes two rookies, Armando Galarraga and Eddie Bonine, and manager Jim Leyland acknowledged recently that the organization is “pretty much out of depth” among starters in the upper minor leagues.

Garcia went 1-5 with a 5.90 ERA for the Philadelphia Phillies in an injury-shortened 2007 season but won 17 games for the Chicago White Sox two years ago.

Leyland has previously said that he prefers midseason additions to have experience in pennant races and the playoffs; Garcia epitomizes that. He is 6-2 with a 3.11 ERA in nine postseason starts and was the winning pitcher in the deciding game of the 2005 World Series.

The Tigers would appear to be a leading candidate to land Garcia, for a variety of reasons:

•Third baseman Carlos Guillen has been a close friend to Garcia for more than a dozen years. They were teammates as far back as the 1995 season (with the Gulf Coast League Astros) and were traded from Houston to Seattle in the 1998 deal that sent Randy Johnson to the Astros.

Garcia and Guillen were big-league teammates with the Mariners from 1999 through 2003.

•If Garcia were to sign with Detroit, he would join a clubhouse that includes several fellow Venezuelans, including Guillen, Magglio Ordoñez, Miguel Cabrera and Armando Galarraga.

•Garcia has had success as a pitcher in the AL – and, more specifically, the AL Central. He had a 40-21 record with the White Sox from 2004 through 2006.

Quote :

manager Jim Leyland acknowledged recently that
the organization is “pretty much out of depth” among starters in the
upper minor leagues.

I blame Leyland and DD for our lack of depth at starter! A, Miller, JJ, Burke Badenhop... all on other teams now doing great!

Why not Freddy Garcia! We already have the Shef, so why not have The Chief on the roster! :lol:

I keep our staff as is!



We got Rogers, Verlander, Nate, Gally,


Willis be back soon!



Tigers should give Zach Miner a chance to start

gs78 wrote:

Tigers should give Zach Miner a chance to start

bobrob2004 wrote:

gs78 wrote:

Tigers should give Zach Miner a chance to start

catbox_9 wrote:

bobrob2004 wrote:

gs78 wrote:

Tigers should give Zach Miner a chance to start

Oh! I saw Miner yesterday. He was Minerish as ever!