Tampa Bay Rays sign outfielder Avisaíl García
The Tampa Bay Rays have reportedly filled their need for a power-hitting right-handed hitter
On Monday afternoon, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Tampa Bay Rays are close to a deal with outfielder Avisaíl García on a one-year, $3.5 million deal with up to $2.5 million more in potential incentives. García had played with the Chicago White Sox since 2013 but was non-tendered this offseason after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in October.
García had a career year in 2017, putting up a .330/.380/.506 slash and being named to the All-Star team, only finishing behind Jose Altuve in the American League batting title race. Unfortunately, he didn’t prove that 2017 was truly a breakout year, putting together a subpar 2018 and missing two months to injury. Nevertheless, the Venezuela native is just 27-years-old, so the Tampa Bay Rays hope that he can recapture some of his 2017 magic.
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García has mostly played right field in his career, which is likely where he will play most of his games for the Rays, with Tommy Pham and Kevin Kiermaier slated to play left and center field, respectively. García has played 33 career games in center, so it’s possible he could fill in given Kiermaier’s injury history. There’s a good chance that García ends up in a platoon with Austin Meadows, with García getting most of the at-bats against left-handed pitchers. In his career, García has slashed .304/.358/.457 against southpaws.
The Tampa Bay Rays are known for their parsimonious approach to their payroll, so signing Avisaíl García to a short-term, low-money deal makes complete sense given their moves in the past. But after surprising everyone in 2018 by winning 90 games, fans hoped that they would be willing to spend a little bit more this offseason to give the team a chance to truly compete in the powerhouse AL East.
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It’s possible that García is able to repeat his 2017 season and the Tampa Bay Rays will look like geniuses for this move, but right now, it doesn’t seem like this signing will move the needle that much.