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According to the NY Daily News Freddy Garcia is a Met. The 33 year old righthander agreed to a minor-league deal with the Mets tonight.  It is being reported that he can earn as much as $8 million to $9 million if he makes the team and reaches all of his incentives.

Garcia spent last season with Detroit and only pitched 3 games.  In 2007 he was with the Phillies and pitched only 11 games.  14 games in 2 seasons isn’t overwhelming.  Right now I love this move.  This puts the Mets in a position where Garcia, Niese and Redding can compete for the 5th spot in the rotation.  BUT, I only love this move as long as they still go after Garland, Sheets or Perez.   This gives the Mets some insurance in the event they don’t land one of the 3, but I’m not in love with that idea.  An injury case, an unproven rookie and a journey man with a below .500 record doesn’t spell success in my book.   3 guys competing for 1 spot is OK.  3 guys sharing 2 spots isn’t.

But back to Garcia.  Here is what he brings to the table.  He has won 18 games in 1 season and 17 games two times.  He has a .605 career winning percentage.  He also has a career ERA just over 4.00 and until his injury in 2007, which put him on the DL for the better part of 2 seasons, he pitched at least 200 IPs in 7 of his first 8 major league seasons.

This definitely gives the Mets depth in their rotation and bullpen now.  Honestly, unless he performs poorly this spring, I see him landing the 5th spot, which should put Redding in the pen and Niese at AAA.

 That’s my 2 cents… I’d love to hear yours!

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