Nice Freddy Garcia Article

[DBAHO]

A nice positive article here from Phil Arvia of the Daily Southtown;

 

TUCSON, Ariz. — According to the Bill James Handbook, Freddy Garcia was the unluckiest pitcher in the American League last season.

 

Some might say his luck only got worse once the season ended, when a few arguably lesser pitchers scored better free-agent deals than the contract extension Garcia signed in July.

 

Garcia? He might tell them all to stuff it if he could wipe the smile off his face — a smile that might have more than a little to do with his December wedding to his bride, Glendys.

 

"I'm really happy," Garcia said at the mention of his wife. "Everything's good."

 

The new Mrs. Garcia just happens to be Ozzie Guillen's niece. Glendys was essentially raised by Guillen and his wife — which means Garcia has basically married the boss's daughter.

 

He wouldn't have it any other way. Garcia likes the feeling of belonging he gets from Guillen and the White Sox, so he doesn't think twice about his three-year, $27 million contract extension.

 

Not even when others point out that Garcia, who is 85-54 in his career, would seem to be worth more than Derek Lowe (72-59), who got four years and $36 million on the open market, or Carl Pavano (57-58, $40 million over four years).

 

You get the feeling Ken Williams knows he struck a good deal, considering the general manager's Cheshire Cat grin when asked to measure Garcia's pact against those that came later.

 

"We did something that made sense," Williams said. "I don't know if this year's market made sense."

 

Neither did waiting to test that market, as far as Garcia was concerned.

 

"I'm the kind of guy, I like to be happy where I am," Garcia said. "Right now, I'm in Chicago and I feel good. I know everybody here and I feel like I'm at home.

 

"If I went out for the big money, maybe I wouldn't be happy, I wouldn't be in a place I wanted to be. That's why I did it last year. I didn't want to wait."

 

What Garcia might want are a few breaks when he takes the ball for the Sox. James' 2005 catalog of baseball arcana says Garcia led the league in tough losses last season with seven.

 

Granted, James doesn't make it easy, defining a tough loss as one in which a pitcher is saddled with the decision despite a "game score" of over 50.

 

"Game score," a stat James came up with, gives each pitcher 50 points to start the game. You add a point for each out the starter records, another for each strikeout, and two more for each inning he completes after the fourth; you subtract two for each hit and unearned run, four for each earned run and one for each walk.

 

Most of Garcia's tough losses came with Seattle, where he posted a 3.20 ERA and averaged just over seven innings per start, yet still managed to go 4-7 in 15 outings.

 

"You know, you have to deal with what happens," Garcia said. "Sometimes you pitch good and you lose. You have to keep going and not worry too much about what happened and think about your next start."

 

Garcia fared much better upon coming to Chicago at the end of June, going 9-4 in 16 starts. James might argue that point, as Garcia had a higher ERA and saw his hits and walks per nine innings rise.

 

Sox pitching coach Don Cooper would happily debate the stats guru.

 

"In the major leagues, wins are the big thing," Cooper said. "Seattle's park is more of a pitching park, so the numbers might have been up with that. But the bottom line is he won nine games, and that's the big number."

 

Speaking of big numbers, Garcia was battered in his last two August starts, giving up a combined 14 runs in 11 1/3 innings. Those games bumped his season ERA from 3.36 to 3.84, after which Garcia took 16 days before his next start, then went 3-1 with a 3.64 ERA over his final five outings.

 

"I got a tight muscle, so I shut it down for a couple of weeks," Garcia said. "I'm pretty good right now. My arm feels great."

 

It will stay that way, if Cooper and Guillen have anything to say about it. The plan is to cut back on the workload of the starters, who in six games last year went at least 120 pitches (thanks again, Mr. James).

 

That number, while hardly outrageous, was exceeded by only eight managers in the majors. Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou, if you're curious, "led" the league with 16 120-plus pitch-count games each.

 

Garcia eclipsed 120 pitches only once with the Sox. But he did throw over 200 innings for the fourth time in the last five seasons, and if you figure in at least three starts he skipped, Garcia would have been pushing 230 innings — a number the Sox don't necessarily want to see him approach again.

 

"I don't think, with our bullpen, he's going to have to," Cooper said. "If our bullpen does what we think it can, there's no reason to have to pile up 230, 240 innings."

 

Garcia only wants to pile up wins.

 

"I want to help this team get to a championship," he said. "It's a good group of guys. We're all friends and enjoy the game."

 

Just like one big, happy family.

[Reddy]

i really like this guy. sounds like he really enjoys it here and plays more for the game than the money whichi i love. even if its just jazzed up for PR purposes I dont care. he's gonna have a great year.

[SnB]

ever since the day he came here, he's been more than a class act.

what an awesome move by the sox

[SoxFan1]

Garcia only wants to pile up wins.

 

"I want to help this team get to a championship," he said. "It's a good group of guys. We're all friends and enjoy the game."

 

Just like one big, happy family.

 

[WHarris1]

Nice article.

I love Freddy, one of my favorite guys.

[GoodAsGould]

Yep i love watching Garcia come out and pitch for us and best thing about it is we can almost count on 2 guys to have a mid 3 era if they are on

[WilliamTell]

This guy will help bring about team chemistry. I wish we would've had him a few years back.

[SoxFanForever]

Great article. Gotta love Freddy.

[Y2HH]

Speaking of AJ, I wouldn't mind seeing him sign a 3 year extention while we are at giving out the longer term deals. I know a lot of people question AJ, but I think mostly hes misunderstood and the media blows a lot of things out of proportion.

 

Nothing wrong with a little attitude, especially when that attitude whos how badly you want to win the game.

 

Everyone says how average this team looks.

 

I say good.

 

The Patriots are average, too.

 

-y2

 

Great article.  Gotta love Freddy.

[CWSOX45]

Here are some interesting split stats I looked up on Hernandez and his career pitching in the Metrodome and at U.S. Cellular Field:

 

 

Metrodome: 1-1 19.0 1 5.21 1.26

 

U.S. Cellular Field: 3 2-0 19.0 2.84 1.21

 

Pretty good numbers for the Cell, even though he has only pitched three games there.

 

(Stats were from Yahoo.com, splits from 1987-present)

 

CWSOX45

[AddisonStSox]

The trend I'm most excited about is Sox players willing to do whatever it takes, even at a discounted price, to stay on the Southside. That is a very positve trend.

 

With a Japenese connection in Iguchi and Shingo, some good old red-blooded Americans in Paulie, Buehrle, Gload, Garland, Davis, etc, and a very strong latino presence in ...well...basicily the rest of the gang, I think we could have a very loose clubhouse, resulting in production and most importantly, Wins.

 

I want nothing more than for this current core to succeed. We could be in store for a very special 05'. I'm nowhere near ready to expect the rest of the AL Central to hand it over, but I think we have a great shot.

[qwerty]

Speaking of AJ, I wouldn't mind seeing him sign a 3 year extention while we are at giving out the longer term deals.  I know a lot of people question AJ, but I think mostly hes misunderstood and the media blows a lot of things out of proportion.

 

Nothing wrong with a little attitude, especially when that attitude whos how badly you want to win the game.

 

Everyone says how average this team looks.

 

I say good.

 

The Patriots are average, too.

 

-y2

 

We still have alot of time to sign him to an extension. I personally think he will be perfectly fine. But let's take a wait and see approach with him.

[southsider2k5]

We still have alot of time to sign him to an extension. I personally think he will be perfectly fine. But let's take a wait and see approach with him.

 

And with the personality problems, I think a wait and see approach is best. We still own his arbit rights for a year even.

[AngelasDaddy0427]

It's nice to know there are still classy players in baseball.

[Y2HH]

I absolutly agree, and after reading this, my respect for Freddie Garcia has doubled, if not more. It's good to see there are some talented players who could easily hold out for the most money, rather than signing with a team/people they want to play with.

 

I've always felt like this, back as a kid, I remember dreaming of playing in the majors (of course this never happened), but me and my friends would always talk about wanting to sign with our favorite teams and wanting to play together and how we'd do anything to make it happen, even if it meant not getting every dime we could get. Of course this is only kids talking, but that's what shows the purity of it...we wanted to play, and we wanted to play together and win, period. It wasn't about a paycheck in the day of Bora$$. It's refreshing to see Freddie on the South Side with Oz, since they are family. The same goes for Shinjo and Iggy.

 

And all this on the heels of Paul Konerko saying he wasn't about to try to rob the Sox in his contract year and all he wants is something fair. Usually when players say this sort of thing (Mags), we realize shortly after what really matters to them. For some reason, I believe Paulie.

 

I love how this team is coming together.

 

-y2

 

 

It's nice to know there are still classy players in baseball.