Slowey To Be Traded Soon

"The Kevin Slowey relief experiment has ended, and a change of scenery appears to be in order. The 27-year-old control artist told Twins manager Ron Gardenhire he doesn't think he can continue as a reliever, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Slowey is headed back to Triple-A to get stretched out as a starter, but Gardenhire implied on ESPN 1500 that the right thing is to find the righty a starting opportunity with another club. After Sunday's game, Slowey had this to say to Neal:

"I understand our situation here. I understand the starters we have here, and I understand that, even given past successes as a starter, this might not be the right fit for me anymore (MLBTradeRumors)."

We talked about this before the season even started, but it looks like it finally might happen. There are certainly going to be some teams that are interested (Yankees/Royals?), but I don't think you have to worry about the Red Sox getting involved. In my opinion that's a good thing. Slowey is a guy who would be a good pitcher in a large ballpark. As this site says "He's a righty with a 90 mile per hour heater. He's hittable, and his high flyball rate makes him prone to the longball." Those are not things you want to hear if you are playing at Fenway. Unless something really bad happens like Dice-K or Lackey getting shut down for the year I don't see them getting involved.

Liriano Out Of Twins Rotation?

Liriano has looked terrible this season (1-4 with a 9.13 ERA) it has gotten so bad that the Twins are starting to think about mulling him out of the rotation. This is pretty shocking for a guy who was so good last year (14-10 3.62 ERA 201 Ks in 191.2 IP), but it seems his arm is hanging by a thread, and it might be the best option to sit him down for a while and figure out what the hell is wrong with him.

Kevin Slowey is making his way back, and it is getting pretty obvious that he is going to take Liriano's rotation spot, unless some dramatic turnaround happens soon. Either way this is all terrible news for the last place Twins, who are currently riding a 6 game losing streak.

Blue Jays Trading For Kevin Slowey?

"The Blue Jays like Kevin Slowey, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (on Twitter). Christensen hears that the Blue Jays have relievers to spare and had three scouts watching Slowey pitch in a 'B' game against the Pirates this morning (MLBTradeRumors)."

I like Kevin Slowey, he is a solid back of the rotation kind of guy. Last year, Slowey posted a 4.45 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 155 2/3 innings and he is still only 26 years old. With that being said I really don't see why the Blue Jays would be interesting in trading for him. They already have 4 guys (Jo-Jo Reyes, Jesse Litsch, Marc Rzepczynski and Kyle Drabek) fighting for 2 rotation spots. I have heard that Litsch has looked really good this spring, and it seems like it is Drabek's time to break into the majors, so I just don't understand taking away a strength (bullpen) to add another starter.

Red Sox 2 Twins 4

The really need to find a way to win on the road. The Sox offense struggled once again last night, and it was made worse by the fact that Red Sox pitchers kept throwing wild pitches. Dice- K tied a franchise record set 80 years ago with 4 wild pitches. If that wasn't bad enough Masterson and Delcarmen each threw one, which tied a modern-day record with 6 wild pitches. On the other side of things Slowey showed great control going 6 innings allowing only 2 runs.

This was only Dice-K's 2nd game back from the DL, and he just has not found himself yet. He didn't pitch horrible, but if he was going against a stronger offensive club this could have been a lot uglier. Still I believe (much like how I feel about Lester) that he is not too far off, and there are some positive things we can take out of this outing. Sure the wild pitches sucked, but Dice-K is also not used to throwing to someone other then Tek. I know we all hate Tek, but defensively he does make a difference behind the plate.

On the offensive side of things the Sox didn't do much last night. Bay had a HR, but the Sox really need guys like J.D. Drew to start coming through for them. Drew has been struggling ever since the Sox put him in that 3 spot (yes I know it is only 2-3 games). One good thing that came out of this game (other then a Bay HR) was that Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 22 games. He is finally turning into the player we had hoped for and is now batting .307 and already has 21 SB.

With the loss the Sox are now tied with the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.