The Mets essentially named Livan Hernandez their No. 5 starter Tuesday. Hernandez beat out Tim Redding (injured), Jonathon Niese (deemed not ready) and Freddy Garcia, who accepted a minor league assignment.Garcia is expected to stay in Florida for another month or so and then join Triple-A Buffalo once the weather gets a little better, and according to agent Peter Greenberg, Garcia feels by then he may be ready to contribute.
After major shoulder surgery in 2007, Garcia sat out most of 2008 rehabilitating and then joined Detroit for the final month. The comeback stalled this spring, but this is a guy with a 118-77 career record who turns 34 in June -- a nice little fallback option for the Mets if he gets close to form.
And Garcia feels he can. Greenberg said Garcia was up to 91-92 mph with his fastball at the end of last season. But in his final start -- a makeup game that was played only because it affected the Chicago White Sox's postseason chances -- Garcia tweaked his shoulder. He is still recovering from that setback it seems, although Greenberg said multiple MRI exams over the winter showed no structural damage.
So, realizing he's not 100 percent (he topped out at 89 mph last time out), Garcia opted not to ask the Mets for his release so he could hunt for a job.
"I think the best thing for him is really where he's at," Greenberg said.
It's not like the Mets will get through the season with just five starters, and if Garcia doesn't get his chance there, the Mets would probably let him go to sign with a team that wants him.
It would be a nice comeback for a pitcher who never got his due in his prime. From 1999-2006, Garcia won 12 or more games six times -- second only to Greg Maddux and tied with Tim Hudson, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, Bartolo Colon and Roger Clemens. Yet he never gets mentioned in that group.
