The Brewers are about to enter spring training in a couple weeks with a rather remarkable salary situation: Just eight players on their 40-man roster will be making more than Major League Baseball’s minimum salary, by far the lowest in the league. Cincinnati features the next-lowest total at 11, and all but six squads carry at least 15 players beyond the pre-arbitration phases of their rookie contracts. Those eight players combine for a league-low $51 million in combined salary commitments for the Brewers as the club continues its austere ways throughout the rebuilding phase.
Just under one quarter of that $51 million will be going to starting pitcher Matt Garza, who will earn $12.5 million in the final year of a four-year contract. Garza’s contract will go down as one of the more unfortunate free agent decision’s in club history, as much for Garza’s subpar performance (4.57 ERA, 87 ERA+, minus-1.4 WARP) as his generally awful personality and attitude.
“I’m going to pitch for me,” Garza told MLB.com last season at the Brewers’ annual On Deck fan event. Garza has made his opinion on playing for rebuilding teams painfully obvious in the past. He wants to play for winners, and the difference in his attitude on the mound is visible when he’s playing for teams like the last two Brewers squads that have no chance of contention.
Garza had his chance to pitch his way out of Milwaukee last summer. His season debut was delayed to June by a lat injury, but he came out of the gates hot. Through his first three starts, Garza allowed just five runs over 144 innings, including six shutout in a June 19 start against the Dodgers. A good July could have seen Garza become an asset worth acquiring at the trade deadline, even if the Brewers would have had to eat his salary to receive any real value.
Instead, in six July starts, Garza won just once, a five-inning, one-run effort July 31 against the Pirates, too late to have any sway before the trade deadline. In his first five July starts, Garza allowed 26 runs (22 earned) over 26.1 innings, was tagged for four homers and a .504 slugging percentage, and struck out 16 batters against 11 walks, a brutal 1.45 K/BB.
Garza was able to finish strong in 2016. Over the final two months, he posted a 3.81 ERA and allowed just six home runs in 10 starts. There isn’t a team in the league, contenders included, that couldn’t use a starter of that level. Garza’s velocity is still strong; at 92.7 MPH, he was only a fraction of a mile per hour off the league average. But at 33 years old, Garza is at an age where teams understandably want to see more proof that he’s physically capable of contributing with consistency.
The 2015 season ended with Garza shut down due to his poor performance and the club’s desire to give playing time to younger pitchers instead. If Garza wants to ignore a repeat of that shameful scenario to end his Brewers career — or a chance to play for a winner in 2017 — he’s going to have to start strong. He has one more chance to pitch his way out, and if he runs with it, the Brewers should have no issues saying good riddance.