Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Kevin Slowey



According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Blue Jays were watching a Twins "B" game versus the Pirates, and more specifically, the starting pitcher Kevin Slowey(seen in the picture above initiating an arm wrestling war with Joe Mauer due to an argument over pitch selection). One scout was video taping him, likely proving that the Blue Jays' massive scouting network is just a secret voyeuristic operation.

You have to know that the information is accurate because Christensen writes about handlebar moustaches. Further credibility is provided by the fact he was told this, sort of in the same way Glenn Beck told me that the U.S. President Baraq Osama is a racist. I also give a lot of credibility to someone like Christensen, who posts stat lines of pitchers using HP, in what I am assuming is a new sabermetric called "Health Points".

On the outset, many may find Kevin Slowey to be a poor target. Clearly Minnesota is fine with moving him, and some of his base career statistics are not the prettiest, including his glaring 1.4 HR/9. There are however peripherals that paint Slowey in a better light - his 1.28 career WHIP and 4.58 K/BB being two of them. As a prospect watcher, it's hard for me to not have a soft spot for a guy like Slowey who blazed through the minor leagues with a 1.94 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and 6.94 K/BB. He is only 26, and it could be argued that he is now coming into his prime and he will be controllable for two more years.

On the flip side, it's less about Slowey and more so who he would block in the rotation. Currently, we have a battle for the #4-5 spots between Drabek, Rzepczynski, Litsch, Richmond, and Reyes. I personally believe Drabek will end up in AAA, where he can fine tune his game in an extremely difficult hitter's park. Fans seem to just love Richmond, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. He's done absolutely nothing in his pitching career to show he warrants this type of fan response, other than the mere fact he is Canadian.

So that leaves us with Litsch, Rzep, and Reyes. Slowey is a definite upgrade over JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and outside of ERA, is statistically better than Litsch, who hasn't shown us anything since 2008 due to a slew of injuries. Rzepczynski had a blown season last year, but he has the pure stuff. He has done more than enough to show that he deserves a full-time shot.

If we were to trade a reliever or two for Slowey, I wouldn't be upset with it. I like the guy. But there are two reasons I'd prefer we didn't:

1) Does he make us a definitively better team over current options? Litsch put up a 2.6 WAR in his shortened 2008 season. Kevin Slowey has only once posted a higher WAR, which was also in 2008. Even Kyle Drabek is projected for a 2.3 WAR as a rookie.

2) David Golebiewski over at FanGraphs showed a lot of concern last year about Slowey's groundball ratio, and the significant drops over the years. It certainly seems like his curveball has become problematic.

And, playing Devil's Advocate again, there are two reasons I believe trading for Slowey wouldn't be a poor idea:

1) The guy has dealt with wrist injuries on and off since 2008. If his wrist is healed, it is very likely he can return to being the player who everyone saw had so much potential.

2) I am a huge believer in continuing to stockpile the Jays' system. If you allow a half-season for Drabek and Stewart in AAA, and fill the rotation with guys such as Slowey who have a major league track record, they are easily tradeable at mid-season, and usually for a lot more than what a middling reliever will get you. If Slowey doesn't pan out, he's "only" being paid 2.7 million.

Whatever the result may be, and if the Jays are even interested in Slowey, I don't believe I would rant or rave in either direction. This would simply be a trade for the sake of a trade.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Catching up.

I spend four hours a day minimum searching around baseball websites just trying to find something, anything interesting to read during Spring Training. It seems almost every other blogger/writer out there feels the same way. On the bright side, this will allow me time to get many of the pages around the website set up finally - including the 2010 draftees list and a review of some drafts from earlier this decade.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Spring, spring, spring

Okay, so let's be honest. I'm not really the best at "sticking" to something. The last six months have been a crazy time in my life, and thus, there hasn't been any blog posts. I spend a few hours a day talking about the Jays and reading about them. I know every minor leaguer by name. But then when it comes to the posting, I tend to lack the effort, despite rambling off an entire essay at a time to my buddy.

So, it's a new year. And it's spring. It's time to start firing off incoherent thoughts about my favourite sport and my favourite team. Let's do this.