Better know your Blue Jays 40-man: Yimi Garcia

Yimi Garcia (over/under on the number of times I type Yumi Garcia this year? 50?) is a 31-year-old, right-handed reliever the Blue Jays signed as a free agent back in November.

Since I seem to be on a name kick, Garcia is the only Yimi ever to play in the majors, though a Yimi Carty played in the minors a few years ago.

His contract is a little bit complicated. He gets two years, plus a team option is a $1 million buyout. He got a $1 million signing bonus (perhaps he wanted a one-bedroom condo in Toronto). He gets $4 inning 2022, and $5 in 2023, and the option year is at $5 million as well.

The option becomes a guaranteed contract for $6 million if he pitches 60 innings or 60 games in 2023 or 110 innings or 110 games between the two seasons. If he doesn’t reach any of those numbers, it is up to the team to take or decline the option year.

He has $1 million in performance bonuses each season.

This is a scouting report from FanGraphs:

García has the stuff. He throws a mid-90s fastball with a 98th percentile spin rate. His curveball, too, has 89th percentile spin. His third primary offering, a slider, is also pretty great.

Hitters just couldn’t hit García. Last season, opponents batted just .176 against him, though this may have been fueled at least in part by his .171 BABIP against. He only allowed 40 hits last season; his 0.87 WHIP was the sixth-best among all qualified relievers. But the results — a 3.61 ERA, 5.19 FIP — stand in opposition to García’s seemingly-excellent underlying ability. How to explain such a large disparity? Of García’s 40 hits allowed, 15 (or 37.5%) went for home runs.

Last year he averaged 96.1 MPH on his fastball. Also, he threw a slider, curve, and an occasional slider and change.

Last year he was great against RHB (.213/.260/.328) but had troubles against lefties (.253/.327/.417, giving up 6 home runs in 104 PA against them). His splits haven’t been as large in other years (career vs. RHP .215/.267/.379, vs. LHP .216/.271/.441).

Yimi has played 7 seasons in the majors, has a 3.60 ERA in 241 games and has 17 saves. He came up with the Dodgers and had a season with the Marlins and half a season with the Astros.

PECOTA figures that Yimi will pitch in 56 games and throw 48.1 innings with a 3.87 ERA.