Brewers Sign Matt Garza

Matt Garza

Matt Garza and the Milwaukee Brewers have agreed to a 4 year $52 Million deal. The Brewers already have a steady rotation with Yovani Gallardo and Kyle Lohse who pitched to a 4.18 ERA and 3.35 ERA respectively. Garza will slot in nicely to the number two spot in the rotation for the Brewers with his 3.82 ERA in 155 innings pitched between the Cubs and the Rangers. The fact that this deal is coming almost immediately after the Masahiro Tanaka signing is not coincidental. Almost all of the starting pitchers on the market waited for Tanaka to set the bar so they can feed of the desperation of teams who missed out on the Japanese ace.  Garza found much more success with the Cubs than the Rangers on basic statistics but his ERA+ which is weighted for home ballpark differed by 30 points, so perhaps returning to a big ballpark will be beneficial for Garza.

Fool Me Once

It appears Ryan Braun will not fool Major League Baseball again. Once before the slugger had been accused of PED usage and he escaped on a technicality and delivered a seemingly honest speech. Braun will be suspended for his involvement in the Biogenesis PED scandal. Major League Baseball provided astonishing amounts of evidence to Braun and his representatives and agreed to not appeal his suspension. The final verdict for the 2011 NL MVP is a 65 game suspension. The Brewers are already in last place and are selling this trade deadline. The loss of Braun will put the final nail in the coffin for the Brewers this season.You can also expect Alex Rodriguez to be face the consequences for his actions with Biogenesis at more severe levels, because of his previous offenses.

With the loss of Braun you can expect Ramirez, Gallardo, and Rodriguez to be traded this deadline. As for Gomez, Segura, and Lucroy; you can possibly see them move as well.

Speaking of trades, the Rangers and Cubs finally finished the Garza trade today after some adversity. Garza will go to the Rangers in exchange for 1B/3B Mike Olt, two minor league pitchers, and two players to be named later. Olt has been glorified for his bat, but hasn't performed at the Major League level. Matt Garza spent some time on the DL  but has a 3.17 ERA over 71 innings pitched in 2013. Garza will join a rotation with ace Yu Darvish and may pitch for the Rangers as soon as tomorrow.

The Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is a little bit more than two weeks away and some teams will be buyers and others will be sellers. Lets look at which players may be moving and to where.

Chase Headly has not performed according to numbers he put up last season. He may be on the move. I think the Yankees should definitely pick up Headly because the production at third base has been horrific and Alex Rodriguez doesn't seem to be coming back this season after his association with Biogenesis. Being a switch hitter in a predominantly left handed lineup will be huge for the Yankees and Headly's left handed swing against right handed hitters will fit well in the small Yankee Stadium.

Alex Rios is most likely on the move, for the White Sox have announced that they will be sellers. A potential seeker for Rios should be the Giants. Their outfield is currently Tanaka, Blanco, and Pence. Even if Angel Pagan comes back and performs well, they will still be getting little production from left field. Rios is a tremendous defender and is still good enough to cover ground in AT&T park.

Matt Garza has already been informed he will be traded and a logical landing spot for him would be in Baltimore. The Orioles have a tremendous offense and a great bullpen, but their starting rotation is very sketchy. Garza has success in the AL East after spending seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, and can go deep into ball games. If the O's want to contend this season, they need to find a starter.

The Phillies are looking for a center fielder and that may come in the shape of Alejandro de Aza, Dexter Fowler, Juan Pierre, or Franklin Gutierrez. All of the following are probably available and would definitely help the Phillies on defense and offense, because Ben Revere hasn't performed as expected this season.

Yovanni Gallardo will probably also be on the move this trade deadline and a landing spot for him will be with any one of the teams in the NL West. The Dodgers, Giants, and D-Backs are all logical contenders, but the Padres and Rockies are borderline and rebuilding. Gallardo is great pitcher to build on and can be a huge help to a rotation and the bullpen, because he would be saving them many innings.

The Red Sox acquired left handed reliever Matt Thornton from the White Sox and that has been the only major trade so far. The Red Sox want to continue to contend and the hard throwing veteran will absolutely be a help down the line, especially with the number of injuries their pitching staff has accumulated.