Jaime Garcia was long gone by the time Twins players found out he had been traded to the Yankees.
The Twins and Garcia had agreed to let him go to Atlanta for a couple of days to collect some belongings to bring to the Twin Cities. He caught a red-eye last night after the game to head to Georgia. So Twins manager Paul Molitor had to call him this morning to wish him good luck with the Yankees.
"Unless we bring him back, he'll go down as one of the few undefeated Twins pitchers in history," Molitor quipped.
The comment drew laughs from the media. The reality is that Garcia represented a, "let's go get it," attitude when he joined the Twins last week. His departure suggests the white flag is going up.
Players know their names will come up in rumors over the next 25-plus hours before the non-waiver trade deadline. But they are out to defy the belief that they are no longer in the race.
The Twins begin the day seven games back in the AL Central race and four back in the wild card standings. More than one Twin said that teams have come back from bigger deficits. The don't plan to concede anything.
But there's not doubt that players are a little irked by the shift in strategy by CBO Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine. A week ago, they were working on the Garcia trade and looking into other upgrades. Should one bad week change all that?
"It's safe to say it's a little frustrating," second baseman Brian Dozier said. "We get a guy that can help us down the stretch for sure. Then a few days later, you lose him. That's very frustrating. I don't believe in white flags. We've got two months to go. When you are in the position we are in, I figured we would try to add some pieces."
