Earlier today, the White Sox announced that they acquired Rockies pitcher, Tommy Kahnle in exchange for minor league RHP, Yency Almonte. This move comes just four days after the Rockies designated Kahnle for assignment.
This trade continues the early stages of an offseason during which Rockies fans have seen general manager Jeff Bridich make only minor moves to the team. The biggest news to this point was the Twitter speculation that the Rockies had the high bid on the negotiating rights to highly touted Korean prospect Byung-Ho Park. Eventually, the Twins won the bid and the Rockies continued to stay quiet.
Aside from small, predictable organizational moves like designating John Axford, Wilin Rosario, Rex Brothers, and Kahnle for assignment in addition to adding Carlos Estevez, Antonio Senzatela, Trevor Story, and Raimel Tapia to the 40 man roster, the Rockies have stayed out of baseball news. Even the move to acquire Almonte from the White Sox won’t be seen as a major move. At best, it’s a minor league depth-adding move.
In fairness to the Rockies, it’s still November. The World Series ended less than a month ago. Maybe it’s unfair to expect that Bridich would make a splash by now. But the lack of news and the lack of substantial activity makes you wonder if he plans on continuing the job he started when he traded Troy Tulowitzki back in July.
When the Rockies DFA’d Kahnle, the Rockies clearly felt that he could no longer add value to the organization. The fact that the Rockies were able to get anyone in return for Kahnle is a good thing. But how does Almonte figure to fit in with the Rockies’ plans?
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With the Tulowitzki trade, it has become at least a bit clearer what Bridich’s pitching plan is. He wants pitchers who command the ball well and Almonte’s ~3/1 K/BB fits in well with that mold. He has also done a good job at avoiding home runs in his short minor league career giving up less than 1 HR per 9 innings pitched.
Further, he’s shown steady improvement throughout the last three years in the Angels and White Sox organizations. This year, pitching at both A and high-A levels, he registered a good 1.150 WHIP and a solid 7.2 K/9 which indicates that he should fit in well with the pitching staff the Rockies are trying to build.
Given that he showed promise at the high-A level with the White Sox (2.42 ERA, 0.896 WHIP, 3.25 K/BB in 44.2 IP), Almonte figures to break spring training with Modesto (A+). There is a good chance that the Rockies will want him to cut his teeth in the very hitter friendly California League.
This isn’t a move intended to appease the interests of Rockies fans. The addition of Almonte adds another arm to the Rockies’ growing minor league pitcher stockpile. It seems that the plan is to grab as many quality arms as the farm can handle and hope a few of them pan out as planned.
Almonte adds some decent depth to a great farm system and eceiving depth in return for a player that the Rockies had already given up on is a solid move. Indeed, it’s been a slow start to the offseason, but Bridich is showing that he is going to do things that he feels is in the best interest of the team moving forward. Only time will tell if his vision aligns with that of the fans.
