Yankees 'needed' to get hitter like Garcia Jr.
Eric Samulski unpacks the Yankees trading for Luis Garcia Jr., explaining how the Blue Bombers needed some more juice and the Nationals were happy to provide it in exchange for some reinforcements for the bullpen.
Video Transcript
The New York Yankees added a much-needed bat, trading for Luis Garcia Jr. From the Nationals as part of a five-player deal.
Garcia Jr. Has broke out for the Nationals this season.
At just 26 years old, he's leading the NL in slugging.
He's hitting 238 with 23 homers, 76 RBIs, and four stolen bases.
Part of the breakout for Luis Garcia Jr. Has been pulling the ball in the air more, which is gonna be huge for him at Yankee Stadium.
He has the highest barrel rate, highest hard hit rate of his career, and the Yankees need this.
Since Aaron Judge has been out, they are bottom three in all of baseball in batting average, in OPS, in strikeout rate, in weighted runs created plus, so they really did need some thump in the middle of the order.
And Garcia Jr. Is under contract through arbitration for 2027 as well, so it is a good get for the Yankees, but one that the Nationals could part with.
Garcia Jr. Is not a good defender anywhere except for first base.
The Nationals have some decent first base prospects in Jhoandy Morales and Albemelec Ortiz, who they got in the Mackenzie Gore deal, and so they could afford to move off of Garcia.
What they get here, four pitchers.
Giovani Cruz sits 99 miles an hour.
He has a plus bullet slider, which misses a lot of bats.
I think he could be the closer for the Nationals as early as 2027.
Ben Grabel is another pitcher, who's really interesting.
He sits 96 miles an hour with his four-seam fastball.
He has 20 inches of vertical movement, also a good slider.
The Nationals could let him try to be a starting pitcher, but he, if he's not a starting pitcher, he's another guy who has the possibility to be a high-end relief pitcher.
And then they got Jake Bird back as well.
Bird obviously, has had flashes with the Rockies in the past.
He did not work out with the Yankees.
But this is the Nationals building a solid bullpen, for a really good hitter that they sent to the Yankees.
