As much as the Seattle Mariners and their fans endured a tough campaign last year by coming up agonizingly short of a playoff spot, it could have been so much worse. Case in point being their AL West division rivals the Los Angeles Angels, as they struggled worse than ever in their first season without a certain Shohei Ohtani, after he decided to leave them following six seasons and sign with the Dodgers.
While the Mariners' 85 wins might have been their fewest in a full 162-game season this decade, the Angels endured 99 losses, which were their most ever in a full regular season in franchise history. And now, one of the Halos' few success stories in 2024, has decided to go and join Ohtani by also bolting for their crosstown rivals.
As first reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball, reliever Luis García has agreed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, which includes an invitation to Major League spring training. Financial tems of the contract had not been disclosed at the time of writing.
García might not have been outstanding per se, but he was still arguably the Angels' second-best reliever in the bullpen during his time in Anaheim. In fact, with a 3.71 ERA, 3.69 FIP and 1.168 WHIP among other things, he pitched well enough to receive interest leading up to last season's trade deadline.
Mariners AL West rivals receive decent return haul for Luis García
As a result, despite effectively being a rental for any contending team that wanted the righty, the Boston Red Sox stepped up and acquired him in exchange for four minor league players, with two of them going on to make their Major League debuts in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for García, the move did not turn out quite as well for him in Boston.
García went on to produce an 8.22 ERA which was the highest of the six teams he has pitched for during 12 years in the Majors, to go along with an unimpressive 5.06 FIP and 1.630 WHIP. To compound the issue, he was limited to just 15 appearances for the Red Sox due to right elbow inflammation.
When putting everything together, it came as little surprise that the Dominican Republic native was effectively one-and-done in Boston and became a free agent. Now, the de facto best team in baseball adds a hard-throwing reliever who will be aiming to bounce back from his rough end to last season, and could conceivably be a regular part of their bullpen in 2025.
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