Of course, this is
potential a case of smoke-and-mirrors as the team also has a 4.41 xFIP out of the
bullpen. Additionally, in July, the Twins second-city players have accumulated a gaudy
4.55 ERA – possibly indicative of tired arms that have been overused while starters
have called it quits early in the game. If the Twins expect to dash to the finish line with the White Sox in the Central, reinforcements are needed.
KSTP’s Joe Schmit tweeted that the Twins were not in
contention for the 34-year-old left-hander, Scott Downs. Of Toronto ’s stable of
relievers, Downs may be the most desirable of
the lot, especially if his $4 million price tag for 2010 says anything about it.
While the majority of long-term contracts to relievers wind up not worth the
paper they are signed on, Downs has fulfilled
expectations. After signing a three-year, $10 million contract in 2008, he has
emerged as one of the game’s most consistent bullpen arms. In the past three
seasons, Downs ’s 3.44 xFIP has been the 12th-best
among the game’s relievers. Meanwhile, for those that prefer ERA, Downs has been the fourth best in that category (2.28) as
well. What makes him particularly attractive for the later innings is his
restrictive home run nature. During the course of his current contract, Downs ’s 0.46 home runs per nine innings in the seventh-lowest
among those qualified relievers. As a pitcher who rarely breaks 90-mph with his
fastball, Downs earns his living hitting the
areas just below the strike zone. This has made him a very effective groundball-oriented
pitcher (59% GB since ’08) and very difficult to elevate with power.
With Jesse Crain
rebounding to form and Matt Guerrier
producing well in later innings, it seems unlikely that the Twins require a
right-handed reliever but the Blue Jays have several of those options available
too. One-time closer Jason Frasor is
one such target. In three consecutive years, Frasor has struck out roughly 20%
of his total batters faced while incorporating a split-finger fastball to increase
the total amount of groundballs induced in recent years. However, Frasor’s ERA
(4.66) has outpaced the anticipated results due to a precipitous amount of
balls finding turf. For his career, Frasor holds a .296 BABIP but is carrying a
hefty .376 BABIP this season, which is one of the highest in baseball despite having
significant groundball tendencies. With the exception of the walks, Frasor has
a skill set that could play well in Minnesota
as, like Downs , he is miserly with the home
runs and is a groundball pitcher. Aside from the walks, the Twins typically do
not acquire split-finger pitchers so those two elements would probably He’s
nominally cheaper than Downs (slated to make
$2.65 million in ’10) and a free agent for the first time in his career after
this season.
Like Frasor, Shawn
Camp is another right-handed reliever with late-inning pedigree and high
leverage experience. Unlike the previous two candidates, Camp is not known for
his ability to entice a strikeout. Camp relies on command of his pitches but
can get plenty of off-balanced swings with his changeup and slider combination.
Likewise, this repertoire gets him plenty of grounders as well (55% career
rate). Camp is favorable of a matchup against right-handers (a career 3.25 K/BB
ratio) lefties have proven to be a tougher puzzle for him. For his career,
left-handers had hit .328/.389/.515. His presence may require some managerial
savvy as the amount of available left-handers out of the pen is now limited to Jose Mijares and Ron Mahay. Still, his $1.15 million contract makes him an
attractive acquisition and without the Type A label of Scott Downs, Camp would
require a much smaller package to obtain.
Lastly, reigning Blue Jays’ closer, Kevin Gregg, was signed after a hellacious season in Chicago ’s Wrigley Field
combating the prevailing winds. While in a Cubs uniform, Gregg surrendered a
career-high 13 home runs and was constantly influx with his closer’s position. Toronto signed him on the
cheap ($2.75 with option in ’11 and ’12) in February. Gregg started his season
in Canada
well, converting 14 of 16 save opportunities while limited opponents to a .250
batting average and 27 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched. From June on, his
control waned some (mostly attributed to a five-walk outing against Tampa ) leading to a 5.12
walks per nine innings and he blew another two saves in 11 tries as his ERA
inflated to 4.70. He’s increased the usage of his cutter, leading to more
grounder, yet his ability to hit the strike zone is of concern.
With a relief staff full of arms ready for the trade, Toronto has four viable options
that could be had at a relatively low price. Here’s an excerpt from the Blue
Jays’ section of the 2010 TwinsCentric Trade Deadline Primer written by Jays' blogger Will Rainey:
“Just as unexpectedly, it has been bullpen inconsistency that has undermined the team's pitching efforts. Coming into the season, it was widely assumed that the Jays, who'd had the best bullpen in the game over the previous three seasons combined, had not only a solid crew but depth from which to trade as the deadline approached. While it's still true they have movable parts, those players have not spent the first half burnishing their trade value. It is true that reliever's ERA can be one of the most misleading of stats, since one or two rough outings can skew the overall figure badly, but one can't help noticing that several of the Jays relievers have had those blowups. Most frustratingly, these seem to occur most often against the division rival Rays.”
Because they are undervalued right now, the Twins may be
able to land any of the four at a reasonable price and help distribute the
workload around more in the later innings.