Milwaukee Brewers: Five worst free agent signings

Similar to Gagne, the Milwaukee Brewers signed Matt Garza after his prime. Unfortunately they paid top dollar, for the Brewers anyway, and Garza didn’t amount to whole lot in The Cream City.

Early in his career, especially with the Tampa Bay Rays, Matt Garza was a beast on the mound. His intensity and antics made watching his starts fun, and he backed it all up with an electric fastball. However, that is not the version of Garza the Milwaukee Brewers signed to a four-year deal worth $50 million.

Garza had his success against The Crew while with the rival Chicago Cubs. Signing him was exciting news, for about five seconds, then you remembered it was Matt “Friggin” Garza. This is easily one of the worst contracts in Brewers history, but it wasn’t ALL bad.

Garza’s career with the Brewers

Garza was surprisingly solid in his first season with the Brewers. Although he spent some time on the DL, a recurring theme during his time in Milwaukee, Garza did make 27 starts. He finished the 2014 season 8-8 with a 3.64 ERA and 126 strikeouts.

However, that was the high point for Garza with the Milwaukee Brewers. His numbers slipped drastically in 2015 as his ERA ballooned to 5.63. He managed to start 25 games that year, but he was ineffective the entire season.

It all came to a head late in the ’15 season when Garza reportedly refused to transition to the bullpen for the Brewers. After struggling all season, the team shut Garza down in September. With two more seasons still remaining on his contract, fans hoped this would be the end of Garza’s time in Milwaukee.

Unfortunately, that time wasn’t over just yet. He pitched two more injury plagued, uninspiring, seasons for Milwaukee. Garza became the new Jeff Suppan as the butt of all Brewers jokes. Thankfully, his contract expired at season’s end, making him a free agent.

Fans were never surprised by another injury to Garza, rather the surprise was always how long he stayed healthy between DL stints. When he was healthy, he was a complete shell of his former self and provided very little value for his time spent in Milwaukee. His one season of competent pitching is the only thing that kept Garza from being number one on this list, barely.