Matt Garza is back in a playoff race after being traded to the Texas Rangers on Monday afternoon. It's not about overspending or trading valuable prospects, Garza's only job now is to help his new team get into the playoffs. However, looking at his numbers late in the season, did the Rangers go after the right guy?
First of all, everybody knows why the Rangers were attracted to Garza. He has won five games in a row and is 6-1 with a 3.17 ERA. It should have been 7-0 because, before the streak started, as Garza pitched seven scoreless innings against the New York Mets. However, when playing for the Cubs, pitchers are bound to lose games even when they completely dominate.
Now, Garza cost the Rangers three young players, Justin Grimm, who has pitched in the majors, C.J. Edwards and Mike Olt, along with a player to be announced later. Grimm is 7-7 with a 6.37 ERA, which doesn't seem like much, but he's only 24 years old. He gives the Cubs exactly what they want and is at least one pitcher who has big-league experience.
The Rangers weren't looking for an ace since they have Yu Darvish completely dominating hitters. Derek Holland has also pitched well in 2013, going 8-5 with a 3.10 ERA. The Rangers will now look for Garza to possibly become the third or fourth starter in their rotation. This could in fact relieve some of the responsibilities Garza faced while in Chicago. When in the rotation, Garza was inarguably the team's best pitcher. Meanwhile in Texas, he won't have to worry about shouldering that burden.
As the records indicate, Garza hasn't been a great pitcher late in the year. The Rangers, who are making a playoff run, are currently trailing the Oakland A's by 2.5 games. The A's are currently playing the Houston Astros and losing 3-2 in the top of the eighth. Garza is 10-13 with a 4.36 ERA in 32 starts made in September and October. This, is when his pitching is at its worst. The ERA is the highest at any point in the season and this is the time when the Rangers will truly need Garza to step his game up and pitch his best.
If there is any good news for the Rangers, in three of his five career playoff starts, Garza has allowed only one run. In his other two starts, he's allowed a total of nine runs, giving up up five in his first ever playoff start and then surrendering four earned runs in Game 3 of the 2008 World Series.
Garza definitely adds depth to this team, but in the end, if the Rangers don't win a World Series, they might have overspent for a guy who will never be an ace on this team despite dominant pitching in the past month and a half.
