Twins reportedly close to acquiring Jaime Garcia from Braves

The Twins are reportedly close to acquiring Jaime Garcia from the Braves, as Ken Rosenthal reports. Other pieces in a potential trade package have not yet been revealed. Multiple teams supposedly made inquiries to Atlanta about its veteran starter, including the Yankees and the Royals, who have both been looking for pitching help.

Contributing to the probability that this trade goes through soon, the Braves scratched AAA pitcher Aaron Blair from a planned start, presumably so he could slot in for Garcia’s next start once the deal is done.

Garcia is a free agent after this season and currently sports a 3-7 record in 17 starts with a 4.33 ERA. Not incredible, but enough that he could help a team in the hunt like the Twins, who are currently a half a game back of Cleveland for the division lead.

His statistics are also not too far off from what he was putting up last year, so teams know what they’re getting in this trade and aren’t necessarily buying low and hoping for a miraculous turnaround. Garcia is who he says he is.

At this stage in his career, he can definitely make for a useful starter in the back end of a rotation, which is what the Royals were hoping for and something the Twins could definitely use, seeing as they are currently relying on Adalberto Mejía and Bartolo Colon as their fourth and fifth starters.

Not the worst options in the world, but not people who are at the stage in their careers where relying on them in what Minnesota is hoping will be a deep playoff run is in anyone’s best interest.

One worry with Garcia is his history with injuries, despite not dealing with any yet this year. It looks like that’s a risk Minnesota is willing to take if it means getting some pitching support at a price it can afford.