Tampa Bay Ray fans are watching their team fall apart by the seams of Matt Garza‘s 95 mile per hour fastball.
The Chicago Cubs have acquired SP Matt Garza, a minor league pitcher and OF Fernando Perez for a plethora of young players including OF Sam Fuld and RHP Chris Archer, the 2010 Minor League Baseball Pitcher of the Year.
Garza, who threw a no-hitter in 2010, went 15-10 with a 3.91 ERA while being the Rays No. 1 starter. Now, he can pack his bags, as he now moves to Wrigley Field.
Garza had an up-and-down season, yet carried the staff of the Rays into the playoffs. He joins a pitching staff with Ryan Dempster (15-12, 3.85 ERA), “Big Z” Carlos Zambrano, who, just like Garza, had an up-and-down season with a stellar second half of his season going 8-0 with a ERA under 2.00.
Tampa Bay now gains young talent in Archer, a young OF in Fuld, C Robinson Chirinos, OF Brandon Guyer and SS Hak-Ju Lee. All are considered long-term talent two to three years down the road and they may be important parts of the Rays’ youth movement to go along their own bunch of talented young players.
The Cubs‘ rotation now features potentially Garza, Dempster and Zambrano, a formidable rotation to win.
The Rays’ rotation now features potentially James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson and David Price.
If the Cubs could get into the thick of things in their division, could they pull it out?
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