Let me say this about that . . .
As a White Sox fan (and a die hard to boot), my first reaction to this trade was :x
:!:
:
:x !! Freddie was an integral part of the WS champion rotation, in fact, was the winner in game 4.
But . . . he was making 10 million a year, and will be a free agent after this season. While he won 17 games last year, he got an awful lot of run support. He had obviously lost about a foot off his fast ball. He seemed to develop a change up type pitch the last month of the year that helped, but things, but he still seemed to get lit up when we needed him most to come through. Baserunners stole off him at will. Finally, he developed a very strange attitude -- showing up his teamates when they made mistakes, rolling his eyes, showing a lot of negative emotion. it became obvious by mid season in 2006 that if somebody was getting a ticket punched for out of town, it was Freddie.
The Phillies get a year rental on a pitcher who may be on the downside of his career. Maybe the switch to the NL will help Freddy.
We had to make room for Brandon McCarthy in the rotation, and got a couple of good young arms in return. I had wished we could have gotten more, but, again, Garcia is a "rental." Nats fans know all too well what that is all about.
I don't know where Kenny Williams is going, but i like the idea of keeping the staff young. I hope we sign Buehrle to an extension, and are able to bolster our bullpen. Some say we need a better leadoff hitter than Podsednik, but if last year was just an off year, I think we're OK. The Twins, Tigers, and Indians have not yet significantly improved themselves.
So, if you want some advice from a guy who's seen a lot of Garcia -- play small ball against him, and he'll get rattled. Run like the wind. My bet is he won't be as formidable an opponent as you might think. Very good, mind you, but beatable.