MMO Trade Profile: Yimi García, RHP

Yimi García

Position: RP B/T: R/R

Age: 33 (08/18/1990)

2024 Traditional Stats: 27 G, 28 IP, 3-0, 2.57 ERA, 0.786 WHIP, 11.9 SO/9, 2.3 BB/9

2024 Advanced Stats: 0.7 bWAR, 159 ERA+, 2.32 xERA, 2.89 FIP, 3.28 xFIP, 34.6 SO%, 6.5 BB%, 1.0 HR/9

Rundown

Yimi García has been a solid reliever in the league since he made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014. He’s never been dominant, but he’s carved out a really good career for himself and is still a viable option out of the bullpen at 33 years of age.

García had been on the injured list since the middle of June with right elbow ulnar neuritis and was scratched from a rehab appearance with a stiff neck. However, he officially returned to the lineup on Saturday, pitching a perfect inning; striking out three.

Through his first 18 appearances this year, García allowed just one run and compiled a fantastic 0.47 ERA. He came back down to earth since that time, however, with a 7.00 ERA over his last nine appearances before injury. Overall, he has a 2.48 ERA on the year which would be his lowest number since the 2020 season and his lowest ever during a full season. What’s even more impressive is his 0.76 WHIP, also a career best.

Even at 33, García is still a hard thrower, and he deploys a repertoire of five pitches to keep batters guessing. His most-used pitches are a high-90 mph four-seam fastball (34%), a mid-80 mph curveball (21%) and a high-90 mph sinker (19%), though he also mixes in a mid-80 mph sweeper (15%) and a high-80 mph changeup (9%). García also has a high-80s mph slider, though he’s only thrown it three percent of the time.

The right-handed bullpen arm has generated a ton of swings-and-misses, ranking near the top of the league in chase rate, whiff rate, and strikeout rate. He’s also limited hard-hit balls and doesn’t walk a lot of batters. If there is one area of improvement for García, it’s that he has one of the lowest ground ball rates in the league.

While he missed some of this season with the aforementioned injury, recurring injuries aren’t too much of a concern for García as he has pitched in 60-plus games in each of the last four full MLB seasons. He won’t do that this year, but whichever team acquires him shouldn’t be too concerned about his availability down the stretch. Of course, injuries can always happen, but García is usually very dependable.

Package

Yimi García is 33 years old and will be a free agent at the end of this season. With that being said, he won’t cost a ton even with his success on the field, especially if the Mets take on most of his contract which is expected.

One trade from a season ago that feels comparable was the acquisition of Keynan Middleton by the Yankees for RHP Juan Carela. Middleton was 29 and was set to be a free agent at the end of the 2023 season. For his services, the Yankees coughed up Carela, a prospect outside of their top-30.

Mets Receive:

• Yimi García (RHP)

Blue Jays Receive: 

• Joander Suarez (Mets No. 28 Prospect)

Suarez is a Double-A starting pitcher who has shown flashes of brilliance but has also struggled at times. He’s currently pitching to a 4.71 ERA in Binghamton but started his time there with 18 scoreless innings over three starts last fall. Suarez is 24 and has a career 4.43 professional ERA across six seasons, but this return feels appropriate for an aging rental reliever when the Mets are also likely to take on most of García’s contract.

Recommendation

The Mets should certainly pull the trigger on any trade that provides bullpen help without giving up any major prospects. That includes this one, sending García to the Mets where he’d immediately slot into a set-up man role.

García would provide stability and a knack for limiting baserunners to a bullpen that has done just the opposite for most of the season. The bridge to Edwin Díaz, or whoever’s in the closer’s role, has been a troubling one and the Mets simply need to figure out how to prevent other teams from scoring against them late.

If president of baseball operations David Stearns can swing this deal, he should absolutely go for it.

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