The Texas Rangers very nearly made an awful trade this week. Peter Gammons said in his column on MLB.com that the Rangers were in on Matt Garza until the Rays decided to trade him to the Cubs.
The price tag? Scarily high.
↵↵The Rangers were the other team in it to the end. They thought they could get Chirinos from the Cubs, then package him with left-handed pitcher Derek Holland, reliever Frank Francisco and outfielder Engel Beltre, plus pay some of Francisco's contract.
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Geez. First of all, they'd probably have to give up something pretty OK to get Chirinos from Chicago. Then you're talking about adding him to Holland, Francisco and Beltre while paying part of Francisco's contract? Awful.
↵Among qualified pitchers in the American League, Garza was 37th in FIP. His K-rate dropped from 8.38 in 2009 to 6.6 in 2010, which is closer to his career K/9 of 7.1. He also ranked eighth in the American League in BABIP at .279. The Rays are an excellent defensive team and Garza was easily a beneficiary of that.
↵I'm not convinced Garza is a legitimate No. 2 starting pitcher. I'm not even convinced he'd be better than Derek Holland next season. Rangers fans should be happy that this trade never came to fruition. It reeks of something that would be a panic trade.
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