The New York Mets and Yankees are reportedly the favorites to land free agent pitcher Freddy Garcia, who is seeking a guaranteed deal despite having only pitched 73 innings combined in the past two seasons.
Garcia, who topped 200 innings pitched in the 04-06 seasons, had shoulder surgery in 2007 and returned to action in September of last year, making three starts for the Detroit Tigers going 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA over 15 innings.
The 32 year old pitcher would be battling for the 5th spot in the rotation for both New York teams and would obviously represent an injury risk. While a non-guaranteed deal is the most likely scenario, the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers had been rumored to be interested in Garcia as well.
Whichever team blinks first and offers a guaranteed deal will probably land the veteran hurler. Naturally, when you're talking about taking a financial risk in the game of baseball, the teams from New York immediately stand out as the front-runners.
