Rockies Acquire Kevin Slowey from Twins

Another day, another pitcher competing for the Rockies’ rotation. Dan O’Dowd’s latest acquisition is RHP Kevin Slowey, late of the Minnesota Twins. In return, the Rockies will deal a player to be named later. Slowey looks to provide something similar to what Kevin Millwood did, though with slightly less experience. Millwood was a great pitcher who came to the Rockies following an off year. He brought talent and professionalism, but occasionally struggled to adjust to Coors Field. Slowey is also a flyball pitcher, so it will be interesting to see whether he can keep the ball down.

Slowey won 10 or more games in three of his five seasons with the Twins, but 2011 was not one of those seasons. He failed to collect even one win last year, finishing with an 0-8 record and a 6.67 ERA. Only once has he finished a season with an ERA below 4.00 (and it was 3.99). His upside is his ability to pound the strike zone, which is something the Rockies’ pitching staff needs after issuing 522 walks in 2011. Hopefully he can throw those strikes somewhere other than the fat part of the plate, where they’ll likely be sent into the bleachers.

I’m glad we have another pitcher in the mix, but more glad that he’s not one with less than 200 innings of experience. We have too many of those and don’t need anymore. That said, I also hope that most, or all, of our young arms pan out so that a guy like Slowey can just be a placeholder instead of a fixture in the rotation.