Twins Sign Michael Bowden

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins signed RHP Michael Bowden this morning. He will be in the starting rotation of the Rochester Red Wings. Per Mike Berardino, Greg Peavey will return to Chattanooga.

 

Bowden was a supplemental 1st round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2005. He pitched in 39 games for the Red Sox between 2008 and 2012 when they traded him to the Cubs. He pitched in 64 games for the Cubs in 2012 and 2013. 

 

He went 7-2 with a 1.91 ERA with Norfolk, AAA affiliate of the Orioles. Last week, he opted out of his contract and the Twins have signed. Though he's worked primarily out of the bullpen, he did make quite a few starts for the Tides this year and will start in the Rochester rotation. 

[TheLeviathan]

I like this move!

[ashbury]

A journeyman reliever signed with an understanding he'll get a shot to audition to start, maybe leading to more. Who did we hear that about, last offseason?

 

Only this guy has even less of a major league track record of success.

 

It's an OK depth move, if they didn't have a suitable starter to call up from AA.

[Gagne Fan]

We have younger guys in AA that earned the promotion to AAA...

Baxendale and Hurbut come to mind

[kab21]

I hope we are able to get more of the rumored prospects from the Johan trade.  We already landed Hughes.  We missed out on signing Lester this offseason and Ellsbury is locked up but maybe Austin Jackson is available.  Fernando Martinez must be out of baseball by now.  What about all of the Dodgers that were rumored? 

[DaveW]

I hope we are able to get more of the rumored prospects from the Johan trade. We already landed Hughes. We missed out on signing Lester this offseason and Ellsbury is locked up but maybe Austin Jackson is available. Fernando Martinez must be out of baseball by now. What about all of the Dodgers that were rumored?

I'm sure we could land Loney, Kemp or Billingsley for next to nothing. Kershaw might be a little tougher

[Rosterman]

Yeah, wasn't it Bucholtz/Lester or Ellsbury/Crisp, Lowrie, Bowden that the Twins wanted for Santana from the Red Sox...what year was that?

 

I have liked the guy in the past. Today, I would rather stick, sadly, with Pressly and/or Graham.

 

[nicksaviking]

I knew this trade deadline would be full of excitement!

[USAFChief]

Well, they need a starter in Rochester so Berrios can come to the pen in Minneapolis.

 

That's how I chose to interpret this...

[kab21]

I forgot about Lowrie.  Masterson was also in the rumors.

 

[Seth Stohs]

Darren "Doogie" Wolfson tweeted that he's hearing that Bowden has an August 22nd opt-out in his contract. 

 

Makes sense... let's him see if a team might be willing to give him a September call up.

[ashbury]

I knew this trade deadline would be full of excitement!

Well, they need a starter in Rochester so Berrios can come to the pen in Minneapolis.

 

That's how I chose to interpret this...

I'm going to combine an apparent auto-correct failure in Nick's post with Chief's observation, to suggest that we're going with the "There Must Be A Pony In This Pile" approach.

[lukeduke1980]

 

Well, they need a starter in Rochester so Berrios can come to the pen in Minneapolis.

That's how I chose to interpret this...

Not sure about that - Berrios and his almost 1 strikeout per inning does not conform to the 'Twins Way'; Bowden's career mlb rate is a much more comfortable 6.7 k/9