Time, man.
It can sneak up on you pretty quick. Did you know that this is going to be Jaime Garcia’s 9th season with the Cardinals.
Ninth.
Longest tenured Cardinals(since MLB debut)?
Molina-04
Waino-05
JAIME GARCIA-08
Holliday-09
Everyone else#OneOfTheseThingsIsNotLikeTheOthers— Kyle Reis, 58% Neanderthal (@kyler416) February 23, 2016
True, he did miss the entire 2009 season. And true, he only appeared in 10 games in 2008 when he was called up. And true, his ‘rookie’ campaign (in which he finished 3rd in the ROY voting) was 2010.
Still – 9 seasons we’ve been thinking about Jaime in some form or fashion.
After appearing in 15 total games in 2013-14, Mr. Garcia had a bounce back season in 2015, starting 20 games (129.2 IP) and posting a 10-6 record, 2.43 ERA and a 3.9 WAR. Just when we thought a corner was turned…
We’ll never know if anything would have changed if Garcia just ate the ball there. But my gut tells me that the series would have been much more competitive than it was if he had.
The Cardinals went into the 2015 season not seeing a clear path to picking up Jaime’s option for 2016 (11.5M), but by October, it was a foregone conclusion that it had to happen. And it did. He’ll be back in 2016 and in the rotation for the Cardinals.
The good news is that we’re not sitting here talking about Garcia’s health. He made it through the ’15 season without needing a surgical procedure or rehabilitation regimen. For the first time since the 2011-12 off-season, he had the winter to get better as opposed to healthy.
Since it’s Garcia, though, now we’ve got to worry about how that play above impacts his ability to perform when the lights are the brightest.
I get it – he’s the 5th starter.
At the same time, the Cardinals have made it clear that in the battle with the Cubs/Pirates for the NL Central, they’re going to hang their hat on a deep rotation. Where other teams can cover for inconsistent starting every fifth day with offense, St. Louis (probably) can’t.
Garcia is important. Very important. I’d argue he’s the most important 5th starter in baseball.
Games start this week in Jupiter. Let’s hope that Jaime Garcia left the end of his 2015 season in 2015. He proved he can make it through a season. Let’s hope he can prove he’s capable of playing his best games in the biggest starts.
Once again, the Cardinals are depending on him. Is this the season he finally puts it all together?
Photo: MLB
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