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Garcia's arrival: Drumroll, please
ONLY PHILS SEEM EXCITED ABOUT ACQUISITION OF VETERAN PITCHER
"Look at our rotation. If Freddy's not a No. 1, he's a No. 2. We have Brett, who hasn't blossomed to a No. 1, but he's a No. 2. We have Cole. Again, [he] potentially could be a No. 1. For me, give me one No. 1 or three No. 2s? I'll take the three No. 2s. You're going to get more out of the three twos than the one one."
The Phillies hoped Floyd would be at least a No. 2, though, after his horrific displays in 2005 and 2006, they decided he was damaged goods in their organization.
"I think it was a hell of a deal," said Charlie Kerfeld, the Phillies' new pro scout. "[The press] was pretty concerned with what we sent over there [to the White Sox]. You've got one kid [Floyd], who probably needs to be somewhere else, hear other voices for a while. You've got another one [Gonzalez] who might be a good major league pitcher one day. We think we can win now. So we went and got a guy that's a horse."
When Kerfeld heard that assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle had sealed the deal, his heart leaped, especially since the Phillies finished just three games out of the NL wild-card race last season.
"My reaction was, 'Now we have a real chance to win the National League East,' " Kerfeld said. "I think if he'd been in this rotation last year, this club would have been playing in October."
The knock on Garcia has been the fact that, despite his often devastating stuff, he hasn't become the next Schilling or Clemens possibly because he lacks their focus. Poppycock, say Kerfeld and Garcia.
"A lot of people read Freddy wrong. He's a body-language guy. He walks around [nonchalantly]. To me, it's all about results. Look at his record. Look at his ERA," said Kerfeld, a former American League pro scout. "I've seen Freddy the last 4, 5 years. He's pretty damn close to being one of the top guys out there."
In a rare - and somewhat provoked - moment of self-promotion, Garcia agreed.
"I cannot go pitch and worry about people looking at me, how I look,'' he said. "I don't care what people think. I do my job. It's how I am. What can I do? I care. That's why I'm here. I think I'm good, personally."
He had pulled out a chair in the middle of the clubhouse but paused before he plunked down into it, warming to the subject of his worth.
"I've got my numbers. For 8 years. Find 10 guys who pitched better than me the past 8 years. How many guys can you find? Five? Six? And how many are pitching right now? Two? Three?"
He makes a good point. Factor in youth, durability and effectiveness and the value of a commodity such as Garcia places him a cut below the absolute best, such as the Twins' Santana, the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter, the Astros' Roy Oswalt and Barry Zito, who broke the Giants' bank in the offseason.
Then again, unlike that quartet, Garcia hasn't sniffed Cy Young Award consideration since 2001.
Really, while they are delighted to have Garcia, the Phillies have no illusions about what he is. Gone, perhaps forever, are his days of throwing 95 mph.
"Freddy's probably going to throw 88 to 91," said general manager Pat Gillick. "But he gets his breaking stuff over a lot better now, and has a good changeup."
Kerfeld said Garcia always has been a slow starter. Added pitching coach Rich Dubee, "I think his velocity will increase like everybody's increases. I don't think you'll see his true velocity, or anybody's, until May."
Until then, Dubee hopes that Garcia does what he normally does. He's 19-9 in 42 April starts, by far the best April winning percentage among Phillies starters.
"I think he's a proven winner," Dubee said. But a No. 1? "No. Not me."
"I don't care," said Manuel, who has Myers slated to pitch in the No. 1 slot. "He makes 35 starts, gives us 200 innings, how good he is speaks for itself."
