Minnesota has six starters for five rotation spots and Kevin Slowey looks likely to be the odd man out, with Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reporting that the Blue Jays “had three scouts watching” his start yesterday.
According to Christensen the Blue Jays “like Slowey and have relievers to spare,” which makes them a good fit as a trade partner after the Twins lost half their bullpen to free agency this offseason in Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Brian Fuentes, Jon Rauch, and Ron Mahay.
Slowey is making $2.7 million this season and is under team control for two more seasons, so the wisdom of dealing him for bullpen help is certainly questionable. He’s never thrown more than 160 innings in a season and struggled with arm problems last year, but Slowey has a 4.41 ERA in 473 career innings through age 26 and his minuscule walk rate of 1.50 per nine innings ranks second in baseball since his debut in 2007, sandwiched in between Roy Halladay (1.42) and Cliff Lee (1.54)
No word yet on which relievers the Twins are targeting from the Blue Jays’ well-stocked bullpen, but they were linked to Jason Frasor at various points last season.
