Cardinals trade Garcia to Braves
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves made another move in the offseason retooling of their rotation on Thursday by acquiring lefthander Jaime Garcia from the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals got a trio of prospects, including second baseman Luke Dykstra, the son of former All-Star Lenny Dykstra. The Cardinals also landed righthanders John Gant and Chris Ellis.
Tied for the fewest wins in the NL this season, the Braves began to reconstruct their 2017 rotation by recently agreeing to one-year deals with veteran right-handers R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon.
Garcia’s $12 million option for 2017 was recently exercised by the Cardinals. Like Dickey and Colon, Garcia could be a bridge to young pitching prospects. Julio Teheran returns as a fixture atop the rotation. Among other candidates for the rotation are Mike Foltynewicz, Josh Collmenter and Matt Wisler.
Garcia, 30, has spent his entire injury-interrupted career with the Cardinals, going 62-45 with a 3.57 ERA. He was 10-13 with a 4.67 ERA last season, and a glut of starting pitchers made him expendable. The Cardinals are expected to have Lance Lynn back after missing last season to an elbow injury, and Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martinez, Mike Leake and rookie Alex Reyes are expected to solidify the rotation. The Cardinals also plan to have Michael Wacha start again, and general manager John Mozeliak has indicated former closer Trevor Rosenthal could be stretched out to start.
By trading Garcia and his $12 million option for next season, the Cardinals gain the financial flexibility to chase down an outfielder, their biggest remaining hole.
3 agree to deals
The Dodgers agreed to one-year contracts with first basemanoutfielder Scott Van Slyke ($1,325,000) and pitcher Chris Hatcher ($1.25 million). Also avoiding arbitration with a oneyear deal was Nationals catcher Jose Lobaton.