Mets Getting Garcia Good For Yankees

The New York Mets signed pitcher Freddy Garcia to a one-year believed to be worth up to $8 or $9 million if he makes the team and earns enough incentives according to the Daily News.

This is good news for the Yankees. Not only because they have not signed a pitcher who hasn’t been able to stay healthy since 2006, but also because this brings them closer to signing another pitcher who can’t stay healthy, Ben Sheets.

Anthony Rieber of Newsday reports that this deal will not keep the Mets from going after other pitchers like Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf or Ben Sheets. However, it is doubtful they would be too quick to sign Sheets, another pitcher who deals with injuries often.

The fact that Garcia is questionable after pitching only 73 innings over the past two seasons means they will probably want to sign their top choice among starters. The fact that Perez can be a big game pitcher, is lefty and is just 27-years-old, makes me think he will be their highest priority right now.

If I’m right and the Mets put less emphasis on signing Sheets, the Yankees can swoop in and sign Sheets to a one or two year deal on favorable terms. If Sheets himself panics the Yankees could potentially have him at less money than Andy Pettitte turned down this offseason.

Even if it’s just a one year deal, having Sheets as the Yankees No. 5 starter would potentially give them one of the strongest rotations in baseball. If he stayed healthy and provided them with 200 innings they would be in a very strong position for the playoffs. If he couldn’t, they still have decent depth of young starters available to replace him.