Jays Keeping Tabs On Matt Garza’s Arbitration Hearing?

During the height of the offseason trade rumour season the Toronto Blue Jays were linked to various starting pitching targets and with the Chicago Cubs‘ arbitration hearing with Matt Garza scheduled to take place tomorrow it is possible the Jays interest in the right hander could pick up.  Garza is asking for $12.5MM, while the Cubs countered with $7.95 MM, a fairly sizeable difference.

Before the two sides went to arbitration the Cubs signed him for one-year and $9.5MM and the trade talk surrounding Garza could once again pick up steam with the Jays still being a possible destination given the assets available in their rich farm system.  The possible package of prospects to acquire Matt Garza might make Alex Anthopoulos a bit reluctant to pull the trigger, but should he be?

I read an intriguing article at Grantland.com by Rany Jazayerli who states we are entering something of a “prospect bubble” where teams shouldn’t hesitate to deal the unproven commodities for a star player.  His premise is that these prospects are certainly valuable but in the current environment are essentially being overvalued by front offices around baseball.

He even used the example of the Jays dealing SP prospect Nestor Molina for RP stud Sergio Santos, saying it was a great move for the Jays considering they won’t really miss Molina what so ever but have filled a gaping hole with a pitcher who still possesses upside.

It’s worth a read and worth the thought for the Jays to be aggressive on the Garza trade front.  There are a few untouchables in the system but with the depth and quality the Jays have the pieces to get this deal done and still have a very respectable array of prospects.

Last season in 198 IPs, Garza posted a 3.32 era, 2.95 fip, 8.9 k/9, 3.1 k/bb and a 5.0 WAR.

Would it be wise for the Jays to be aggressive and acquire Matt Garza at this juncture?