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Tell me again why he didn't get a call-up in September? Seems to me he was back from his broken leg before that. Maybe his injury meant he hadn't "earned" the call-up during last season ... but his overall minor league career with the Twins certainly should have merited a call-up in September. I write that one off to the cheapness of the Twins (just another building block in my dissatisfaction with this organization).
I guess I'm kind of with Bonnes on this one. It's easy to say "he deserves a shot" and I'm not sure that he won't get a shot this year if we have injuries/poor performance in the pen. But while he's probably "earned" at least a look in the midst of two terrible MLB seasons, you can also look at his game and have serious questions as to whether that would actually work on big league hitters.
I think the walks are a HUGE reason they might be concerned. It's one thing to have a BB/9 in the 4.0 range if you're a fireballer. But if your fastball is 88mph on a good day, and you can probably expect those walks to go UP, not down, with selective MLB hitters, that's a cause for concern. And it's the one area of his game that really hasn't improved, at least according to the numbers.
One thing you can say about him in his two VERY brief callups is that while he didn't look great, he did strike guys out. So, yeah, if this ends up being another "lost" season for the Twins, I'd like to see him get at least 15-30 innings in the bigs. If he's terrible then as a 29-year old, we can consider it settled. But I guess I'm just not too riled up about it either, since I don't honestly believe we're sitting on the next great reliever.
Slama becomes a minor league free agent following the 2013 season, so they will have to make a decision on him by the time World Series finishes. If they let him become a free agent, he will be gone. No question.
Sign me up as another that would like Slama to get a real chance in MLB. I realize there may be issues, but some pitchers manage to get batters out in ways that don't require a great fastball.
In his 6 year minor league career he has never had a season where his WHIP was as high as 1.3. There are some pretty good pitchers out there who cannot say that. If he fails, well, then we know. A year like this is perfect for figuring out who to let go and who to keep for the rebuild.
I'm not necessarily in the camp that thinks Slama should be given a chance at the expense of Swarzak. However, is it too much of a stretch to suggest that Swarzak has gotten his opportunities because he's "Swarzy" whereas Slama is not "Slammy"? I think you know what I mean.
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Originally Posted by silverslugger