Luis García will be reunited with a former teammate when he joins the Boston Red Sox in the coming days.
But that former teammate isn’t on Boston’s roster. He actually has a prominent role on the Red Sox coaching staff.
Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey already knows a lot about García, who Boston acquired in a last-minute deadline deal from the Los Angeles Angels. The two were teammates briefly in 2016 with the Philadelphia Phillies and Bailey was the Angels bullpen coach in 2019 during García’s first stint with the franchise.
And Bailey gave a good endorsement of García to Craig Breslow before the Red Sox chief baseball officer pulled off the trade Tuesday.
“Andrew was teammates with him, but then also his coach, which I think is a pretty interesting dynamic. So has history, has a great relationship with him,” Breslow told reporters prior to Boston’s 10-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park. “Spoke to both the competitive nature and the talent and the willingness to take the ball and compete and not be overwhelmed by what pitching in a place like Fenway Park can mean.”
García certainly is well-seasoned as he looks to aid a Red Sox bullpen that has melted down since the All-Star break. The 37-year-old is a veteran of 12 MLB seasons and the Red Sox will be the sixth team of his career.
García comes to the Red Sox enjoying a solid season thus far. He made 45 appearances for the Angels in which he posted a 5-1 record to go along with a 3.71 ERA and 1.168 WHIP. He also notched four saves and 40 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings.
García will look to keep that up, which would be a huge benefit to Boston’s beleaguered ‘pen, and Breslow believes having Bailey on his side again will help in that effort.
“We feel really lucky to have brought him in and the fact that he comes in with Andrew and sees a familiar face right away hopefully eases the transition for him,” Breslow said.
