Yanks Sign Freddy Garcia: Sure, Why Not? It's Not Like Anyone is Watching...

Oh wait, I'm watching, along with the biggest media market in the world. Oops. Is, "let's throw as much shit against the wall as we can and see what sticks," an effective off-season strategy for filling out a roster? The Yankees seem to be testing that, although the proof already lies in Kansas City, where they've been doing it for years with little to no success. The signing of Freddy Garcia on Tuesday is an extension of this strategy, and another firm indicator of just how much faith the team has in Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre.

For what it's worth, signing Garcia was a better move than signing Bartolo Colon, if for no other reason than it'll save the Yanks on catering. Garcia hasn't been really healthy since Ozzie Guillen finished running him into the ground in 2006, although he did manage to muster up 157 innings last year, with an ERA of 4.64 and an FIP of 4.77. He doesn't miss many bats (not that he was ever Nolan Ryan) and his ground ball rate is worse than Carl Pavano's, a starter who also doesn't miss bats but received a 2 year contract this off-season despite his injury history.

Best case scenario, Garcia gives the Yanks a 5th starter who eats innings while posting below average peripheral stats (K/BB rate, ground ball rate, HR/9 inning rate). Bill James' projected Garcia to have a slightly better 2011 than 2010, but that was before considering Garcia would land in the AL East. Don't expect Garcia to make the rotation out of spring training.

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Fangraphs also asks whether Garcia can be helpful to the Yankees. Their answer sounds similar to mine. They also noted how Freddy's velocity has been dropping for some time now, and how through age 36 one of the pitcher's most similar to him is Bartolo Colon. Wonderful.

Here's an article about how to fix the Mets. Pretty scathing review of the Wilpon's.

The Ray's officially added nearly 40 combined IQ points to their roster.