*2014 VEB Community Projections: Jaime Garcia

I... really have no idea how much Jaime Garcia is going to pitch in 2014. After having surgery on a torn labrum back in May, he is, by all accounts, healthy and painless going into Spring Training, which is a good sign. However, after seeing Mark Mulder try and come back from the injury, and watching the injury end the careers of Brandon Webb and Mark Prior, there is always some hesitancy to be optimistic. On the other hand, Chris Carpenter had the same injury and had several very productive years afterwards.

When healthy, Garcia was a really solid, above-average pitcher in the Major Leagues. With a career 3.45 ERA supported by a 7.14 career K/9, 2.73 career BB/9, and 55.5% career groundball rate, Garcia had the talent to be really successful. While he somehow developed the reputation of being poor on the road, his xFIP split of +.51 is not particularly egregious of a Major League pitcher (most pitchers pitch better at home). His ERA split is more than +1.5, but that is also due partly to a 40 point difference in BABIP.

Ultimately, I don't know. Even if he is feeling fully healthy, I suspect that the organization is going to want to be cautious with him, and with a perfectly capable replacement in Joe Kelly, I don't see why not. Personally, I am going to expect little and wish for nothing but healthy recovery for Garcia.

Here is a gif of a terrible swing against Jaime.

via <a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/950179/Jones2.gif.opt.gif">assets.sbnation.com</a>

Stats via Fangraphs