Rockies to acquire Slowey for player to be named
Thomas Harding at MLB.com reports that the Colorado Rockies have acquired right-handed pitcher Keven Slowey from the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named.
Slowey was the odd man out in the Twins rotation in 2011 and spent much of the season in the minors. He was 0-8 with a 6.67 ERA in 14 major-league appearances, but was 13-6 with a 4.45 ERA in 2010 and won at least 10 games for the Twins each season from 2008 through 2010.
MLB Trade Rumors described Slowey as an extreme fly ball pitcher, so he’s maybe not a great fit for Coors Field. OTOH, I assume that he won’t cost us much in terms of the player to be named later, and we need someone to start 1/2 of a season until DLR comes back. He seems like a decent insurance pickup. I assume that the Rockies may try to get one more starting pitcher, even if it’s just signing Kevin Millwood.
Is the roster in Colorado Springs big enough for all of these players? Quantity beats Quality, I guess.
I guess in fairness, I thought Slowey would have been a pretty good target when the wheels were coming off the rotation last year. So it is hypocritical of me to bust too hard on him now. It is just underwhelming considering the Rockies needs.
Yeah, this one is a mixed bag here.
You know, I’d probably see if the Twins would take Spilly for Slowey, or maybe Cole Garner.
I just hope they don’t give up a young arm, even if its a Chris Balcolm-Miller type. I just don’t like giving those guys away unless its in a big package for a good player. You can really be nickled and dimed out of young arms if you do that.
Supposedly his walks/9 inning ratio is among the tops for the last few years. Renck: “Slowey, 27, has a 1.42 BB/9.0 IP since 2007, the second-lowest among all MLB pitchers since 2007, behind only Halladay’s 1.41.”
One source is reporting Twins have George Frazier’s son on their radar the PTBNL.
WHY!?! Why give up on a 23 year old pitcher like Parker Frazier?
O’Dowd is living the end of his tenure with desperation right now and I think every other GM in the league sees it and exploits him to the point of overpayment.
How is it that we have to give up young pitchers for non-tender candidtates yet every other team picks up Rockies players AFTER they are non-tendered or released???
Parker Frazier seems like a lot to give up for Slowey. On the other hand, we’ve gotten really deep in starting pitcher prospects. Where does Frazier rank versus Pomeranz, White, Chatwood, Bettis, Cabrera, Matzek, and Friedrich?
To Prog’s point, maybe we can get a team to trade us someone of value for Spilly before we nontender him.
Fwiw, it was Renck who mentioned Frazier, “The player the Twins will receive will be announced Thursday. They have had interest in several Rockies’ minor leaguers, including Class-A right-hander Parker Frazier.”
Pappa George won a WS ring with the Twins, yes?
Here’s a question. What move would you rather make: Trade a prospect and pay Slowey $2.7 million or sign Jeff Francis for say $3 million?
I’d take Jeff Francis.
Great point Prog.
In one of the reports I read it talked about the PTBNL being choesen after the rule 5 draft, so I would guess it is some one who is eligable to be chose in that draft. Does anyone know who we are most likely to lose in the rule 5 this year?
I’m with Prog. Jeff Francis.
Mariners talking with Francis’s agent according to CBSSports rumor mill.
O’Dowd has to be 1 of the worst GM’s in baseball, yes hes done good with drafting tulo and getting Cargo plus signing them to long term contracts, 3/4 of his moves have turned out to be busts or underachievers, and hes a hypocrite ‘we need an innings eater’ so i will trade for people who are the complete opposite
lets hope these meetings lead to something, eventually……
Julian wrote: “Parker Frazier seems like a lot to give up for Slowey. On the other hand, we’ve gotten really deep in starting pitcher prospects. Where does Frazier rank versus Pomeranz, White, Chatwood, Bettis, Cabrera, Matzek, and Friedrich?”
He is at the top of the list. Why? He throws strikes. He knows how to pitch, he doesn’t walk people and he gets allot of groundball outs. He is an innings eater who makes hitters get themselves out. Fb tops out at 94 but pitches comfortably at 89-92. Average 91. He has very good command of his fastball. Slider is fithly, throws 4 pitches consistently for strikes. The Cal league hit under a .100 against his slider. He is a throwback pitcher from the 60s-70s. He competes his butt off and a batters better not dig in on him. See him as a 4-5 stater, swing man 6-7-8 inning guys. Only knock on him is he wants to win too bad.
With all due respect, Parker Frazier is not a big-time prospect. Not a lot of guys who strike out 6 per 9 IP in the low minors wind up having significant major league careers. (Side note: in a different thread I commented on how the Baseball America rankings are heavily influenced by the team’s own assessment, but that they’re interesting even so because they tell us who club officials think are the rising stars. I should also note that clubs may also drum up interest in certain prospects by trying to pump up the player’s ranking on the BA list. There could be a bit of that in Parker Frazier’s unexpectedly high ranking.) So I’d rather see a lesser guy be the PTBNL, but Frazier wouldn’t be a huge loss.
As for Slowey: a good addition. O’Dowd’s been after him for a year, and he finally got him for next to nothing. Slowey certainly doesn’t excite anyone — think Josh Fogg in his prime. But you could (and we have) done a lot worse for a 5th starter. Slowey’s horrible superficial stats last year meant there was no serious trade value for him this offseason, but he seems to be the same old Kevin Slowey who had modest success during the previous 3 seasons.
Of course, the problem is that solving that 5th starter problem didn’t rank terribly high on anyone’s offseason wish list.
I’ll also say that acquiring Jamie Hoffman was a minor but smart move. I think the hope is that Hoffman will be a Ryan Spilborghs c. 2007 — righthanded hitting outfielder, better than average speed, a good platoon candidate (he had strongly favorable splits in the minors vs. LHP). So if Seth Smith sticks around, Hoffman may win the platoon partner role. If Smith is gone, the move makes less sense, since Hoffman’s overall minor league stats say that Ryan Spilborghs 2011 is a more likely outcome from Hoffman.
I’m still waiting for any kind of significant move. I can’t believe the Reds would part with Volquez for the likes of Huston Street, so I can’t believe that’ll happen. I still think O’Dowd will do something significant this winter …
I don’t know if O’Dowd is among the worst GM’s in baseball as Sam said, but he has to be the longest tenured below-average GM in the game. His teams over 12 seasons have averaged 77-85, and his cumulative won-loss record is about 100 games below .500, which ranks the team 12th in the 16 team National League from 2000 – 2011.
If Dan doesn’t make key moves this winter through next summer to put us back into the hunt next September, he should be gone in October.
Prog,agree on Francis-would welcome him back in a heartbeat for 3mil or less.I think he proved he has recovered from the surgery,and altough probably only a 4th/5th starter type,I still like his make up.Still,the Slowey deal seems like a plus for the ROX,w/a bigger upside than down.Street staight up for Volquez or Guthrie also seems like a deal to jump on.You can never have enough pitching-EVER!!!!!
Can somebody please confirm or correct that this DoD is in the last year of his contract?
Sorry Agbayani no disrespect but you are wrong. The kid will pitch in the big leagues and stay there for along time, as opposed to the one year wonders the Rockies have produced. And BA America, when was the last time they scouted for any Major League teams.