Morning Rundown: Pirates decline option on Jarlin Garcia, Angel Perdomo had Tommy John

Pirates make decision on 2023 free agent signing, update on Angel Perdomo

Photo Credit: WTM

Thanks to the work of Ethan Hullihen, we knew it was coming, but on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided on left-handed reliever Jarlin Garcia.

Laying Out the MLB Offseason Calendar

They decided not to pick up the second-year option on Garcia, who never pitched in a regular season game for the Pirates.

Garcia, 30, was signed to a two-year contract last offseason, with a team option for the final year. He was hurt during spring training and missed the entire season due to arm troubles.

The veteran has pitched in 285 career games at the major league level, posting a 3.61 ERA with a 17-15 record.

He was expected to fill a late-inning role that gave way to David Bednar, but it never happened.

Garcia wasn’t the only lefty in the news for the Pirates on Saturday, as it also came out that Angel Perdomo underwent Tommy John surgery in October, which will likely keep him out of the 2024 season.

I wrote about Perdomo recently and how good his fastball was last year. The Pirates had placed him on waivers, which seemed odd at first but makes more sense now knowing this.

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The Pirates aren’t short on lefties, as they still have Jose Hernandez and Ryan Borucki on the 40-man roster as options in the bullpen. As we saw in the playoffs, you can never have enough depth in the bullpen, so they could still be in the market for at least one other.