Happy Birthday Carlos Garcia

Today is Carlos Garcia's 42nd birthday. Carlos, you might remember, had one disastrous season with us. Back in November 1996 the Jays traded for Garcia, Orlando Merced and Dan Plasac from Pirates. We sent them Brandon Cromer, Jose Pett and Jose Silva and then December sent them Mike Halperin, Abraham Nunez and Craig Wilson to complete the deal.

In 1997 he hit a .220/.253/.309 in 103 games, playing mostly second base. He had 3 homers, 29 runs, 23 RBI and 11 steals. To make matters worse he didn't even play great defense for us and we payed him a big $2.55 million for that season. By WAR values that was as bad a season as any non-pitcher had ever had for the Jays.

After the season he signed with the Angels as a free agent and hit just .143 in 40 at bats with them, then he went to San Diego doing no better and then he was out of baseball.

He really only had one decent season in the majors, hitting .269/.316/.399 as a rookie for the Pirates. He had 12 homers and 47 RBI in 1993, so it is hard to see what the Jays thought they were getting.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Carlos.