After Matt Garza's stellar debut with the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night following his trade from the Chicago Cubs, he met with the local media for the first time.
While Garza didn't want to talk about too much beyond getting the Rangers to the playoffs with what will amount to about 13-14 starts in a Rangers uniform before the regular season ends, he did answer questions about a potential future with the Rangers beyond 2013.
Garza is a well-known rental player and will most likely at least test the free-agent waters this winter, and rightfully so. He'd likely command somewhere in the range of five years for $80 million, similar to the money Anibal Sanchez got from the Tigers this winter.
"Right now, I've just got to stay focused for every five days," Garza said in his postgame press conference. "That's it. I love Texas, I don't mind the heat. Like I said, my main goal right now is is to help this team get to October and everything else will fall into place."
Garza also said it was nice feeling wanted by a team that's wanted him for quite some time, dating back to his days in Tampa Bay and back to last season when he was available with the Cubs but was shut down with a shoulder injury.
"I couldn't be more happy being in a place where I'm at, a place where I'm wanted, been wanted," Garza said. "It's awesome. I've been traded three times now, and it's just, I'm going to go out there and do my job and make these guys proud that they've made the move."
Leading up to the trade, national baseball insiders such as Jon Heyman of CBS Sports said the Rangers were quietly confident they could talk Garza into an extension and stay with the team for the long term. If they can do that, it would make the deal they made look even better after sending off some top prospects to Chicago for a rental.
