The Minnesota Twins made another pitching transaction on Tuesday, following Monday's re-signing of Matt Capps, as the team announced they have traded Kevin Slowey to the Colorado Rockies. Slowey lost all eight of his starts this past season.
Slowey, selected by the Twins in the second round of the 2005 amateur draft, was in the majors with Minnesota for the past five seasons. He'll now be a member of the Rockies, however, as the Twins decided not to tender him a contract and instead send him to Colorado for a player to be named later.
That player, according to 1500 ESPN, is likely to be an outfielder.
MLB.com reported on Monday that the Twins have shown interest in Rockies' outfielder Seth Smith, who owns a career batting line of .275/.348/.485 with 51 home runs in 1,449 plate appearances. Those numbers dip away from Coors Field, however -- .257/.332/.419.
Aside from the money this frees up for the Twins this offseason, Twinkie Town's Jesse notes that it also opens up a spot in Minnesota's starting rotation.
This takes one more option out of Minnesota's internal starter list. Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Nick Blackburn remain the top four in all likelihood, but now that fifth spot (barring an addition) is down to Anthony Swarzak, Liam Hendriks (who should begin the year in Rochester) and Brian Duensing (who has been pegged for the bullpen).
The Twins could sign a fifth starter, too, but the internal options are available just in case.