Jnevel, I don’t agree with some of your statements.
The why did he get better with the Rangers and not us argument. Although it did take him 3 more seasons to get there.
It didn’t take him 3 more seasons. 2020 was not a season. His first real season with the Rangers was pretty darn good. You said he was an All-Star now, but he was also an All-Star in 2021. He was a member of the AL All-Star team in his rookie season and was 4th for the Rookie of the Year Award and had 3.7 WAR. He had about the same WAR in 2022 and then even better this year. So Garcia has had nothing but good seasons for the Rangers.
The next area is where you laid out a recurring theme of Garcia being a poor defender. For example, in 2021 you said he played “fairly bad defense.” For 2022 you said he played “fairly bad defense” and was “not great because of the defensive limitations.” And about 2023 you said “he still plays poor defense.”
Your take here baffles me. The Rangers think Garcia is about the best RFer in MLB and some of the stats support that. If the Gold Glove were determined solely by the SABR Defense Index, Garcia would be the winner of the AL Right Field GG this year based on the latest data. Of course voting is also part of the criteria. He is 1st for RFers and 5th overall for all defenders.
For the combined 2021 thru 2023 seasons, Garcia is 3rd in all of MLB for Defensive Runs Saved among RFers, even ahead of Mookie Betts, even though Betts has played more games than Garcia in RF (DRS is a counting stat). He is 4 behind Tucker (27 to 23) in DRS, but Tucker has played more games in RF (423 to 268) during these 3 seasons. So on a rate basis, Garcia would be 2nd overall. He was 1st in 2021 in DRS and his defensive play has been consistently good.
If you want to go by UZR over those 3 seasons, Garcia is 2nd in MLB for RFers (behind Mookie Betts). When I looked at the two competing overall defensive stats (UZR and DRS) in aggregate, it looks to me like Garcia scores better (more consistently high in both) than any of the other RFers in MLB.
I was not aware that Garcia was thought of as such a bad defensive prospect. All I had read was he had a plus arm. So if (like you said) he was considered by the Cards as “by far the worst defender” among Thomas, Carlson, Arozarena, and O’Neill, when he is actually one of the top RFers in MLB, it just adds to what became obviously clear in 2023. The Cards have some people in key decision making positions who don’t know didley about OF defense.