The Rockies acquired reliever Manny Delcarmen from the Red Sox for minor league righty Chris Balcom-Miller, tweets WEEI's Alex Speier. According to a press release, the Red Sox also sent cash considerations. The Rockies were known to be seeking relief help given Matt Belisle's heavy workload and Rafael Betancourt's abdominal strain. At 3.5 games back in the wild card, Colorado has a 15.9% shot at the playoffs according to Baseball Prospectus. Unless Delcarmen cleared waivers, the trade implies Delcarmen went unclaimed by American League teams as well as National League non-contenders.
Delcarmen, 28, has a 4.70 ERA, 6.5 K/9, and 5.7 BB/9 with seven home runs allowed in 44 innings this year. His control took a turn for the worse after the '07 season, and his fastball velocity has been down a tick the last few years. The Red Sox were willing to trade Delcarmen in July, but didn't find a match. The Rockies have had their eye on him for years. If September goes well in the new league, perhaps they'll tender him a contract for 2011 at a small raise on this year's $905K salary.
Balcom-Miller, 21, has a 3.31 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 1.6 BB/9 with three home runs allowed in 108.6 innings for the Rockies' Low A affiliate. Heading into the season Baseball America ranked him 16th among Rockies prospects, saying he "has the ceiling of a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter."
Bye MDC sucks to see a local guy go but he sure looked horrible this season.
THANK YOU THEO!!!!!!!!
Yeah this came out of nowhere. Delcarmen was a huge supporter of local programs in Boston. That sucks to see him leave all that behind now. Oh well, that’s what you get for underperfoming
Wow this is strange. Did Theo really forget all the previously good seasons/ Th eguy still has a live arm and a wicked hook. I think it is mistake to give up on him after one bad season. Granted, he will be getting more expensive…but have Atchinson, Okajima, or any other BP pitcher, except Bard or Papelbon, performance’s been up to Boston’s standards either…
Delcarmen has never really been anything more than ‘a bullpen arm’. These guys are a dime a dozen.
The only thing he had working for him was his changeup. His walks are up, contact up, and Ks down.
Nothing to worry about. You’ll forget about him soon enough.
Yes, he did forget “all the previously good seasons”. And good on him. Bullpen arms can fluctuate in quality dramatically, and quality bullpen arms are easy to come by. Theo realized that a good, but inconsistent bullpen guy would be relatively easy to replace, and also got a strong pitching prospect in return.
By the way, to anyone who knows more about this guy from Colorado than I do: could Boston possibly be considering him as a guy to switch over to the bullpen? It sounds like he isn’t a fireballer, or have any one overpowering pitch, but throws strikes and doesn’t give up the home run. Seems to me like a decent bullpen profile but I could be wrong. Thoughts?
(also, maybe its possible he’s in the majors sooner with the bullpen…just spitballing.)
They weren’t so much good seasons as they were lucky seasons.
anyone remember when Delcarman was virtually untouchable?
Balcom-Miller is a hell of a return for a whatever reliever. I guess Colorado really was desperate.
Miller is a little old for low A.
Anyone know why he is down there still?
He’s not a fireballer and doesn’t really have a (finger quotes) “out pitch”.
What he is is a guy who throws strikes, locates well and (as much as I hate this term) knows how to pitch. He would have been a good fit in Colorado. Good sink and run, despite not having eye-popping gun readings. He’s a good get at this stage of the game.
Ah alright thanks.
You think he’s a little old? Judging him against the pitching leaders in the Sally league, I would say he’s a little young.
I just meant that most 21 yr olds (outside those just drafted) with those numbers would be in high A or AA if they are more advanced. But what unbiasedhomer said makes sense.
Yeah- Balcom-Miller’s numbers for ’09 and ’10 in Rookie and low-A ball are outstanding. Not giving up hits or walks and striking out a ton of guys. (Although it IS at the lowest minor league levels) –No alarming red flags for him, so the Rockies must have been desperate for an instant bullpen arm.
Well… Delcarmen has always had really decent stuff. He has a good changeup, but he’s just never really figured it out. His high fly ball rate is going to KILL him in Colorado.Delcarmen also was extremely hands on in the community, so if nothing else then Colorado will get someone who is a decent clubhouse guy who is great in the community.Also – props to Theo for getting a decent piece in return. Wasn’t really expecting much in return, but it looks like we got more than the market value of Delcarmen.
Wait, so he’s not the best middle reliever in baseball? Someone wake up Gammons and let him know.
Oh, relax. Stop pushing for attention.
Don’t worry, my anti-red sox posts will quickly diminish just as the red sox playoffs hopes have.
Nothing shuts up criticism quicker than irrelevance.
Not to worry though, in October all the “Bowden, Reddick and Doubront for AGon!” garbage will be spewed again in here much like chowder after a long Boston bender.
I’m not sure what you mean. If your anti-red sox posts are related to the playoff hopes then you should have stopped writing them a couple weeks ago. I’m a realistic fan, I don’t think they’ll go anywhere this year. And I hate all those stupid trade rumors as much as you do, but that doesn’t mean I run around making dumb, repetitive jokes about the Red Sox or Peter Gammons. I wasn’t annoyed because you were insulting the Red Sox. I don’t miss Delcarmen in the least, and I thought he should have been moved before the trade deadline along with Ramon Ramirez. I was annoyed because making jokes about Peter Gammons is like making jokes about A-Rod and steroids. It’s tired, and really childish.
Don’t worry, my anti-red sox posts will quickly diminish just as the red sox playoffs hopes have.
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Don’t be the same bottom dwellers that only make posts about the Red Sox when they are wrong. Anyone can do that, I’d be wondering if you’d be so gracious to make fun of gammons if he is right about the guy’s skill and delcarmen is really good for Colorado.
Making fun of Gammons is easy when he can’t put his pom poms away. When he still had his ESPN column he was proclaiming MDC to be unhittable. That’s borderline lunacy to do when you’re writing on a national level but Gammons had no objectivity.
That said, from pure baseball sense, I expect Delcarmen to do good things in the NL and out of the AL East. Not every player is fit to pitch in that division.
The AL East has turned Lackey into a 5 inning pitcher whereas in the AL West his stuff went longer in games.
Just makes me happy to see Gammons’ spin go wrong on the Red Sox “can’t miss” prospects. He did more to prop that system up over the past 5 years in rumor and hyperbole than the system did for itself.
You may be the biggest NYY Yankee troll though.
Red Sox win this trade
Meh I’ll take him . NO more AL EAST for him works for me. Innings eater
to begin with, the red sox have virtually no chance of making the playoffs. the rockies have a slight chance. the red sox are packed with quality relievers. the rockies are thin with average relievers. nobody wins or loses here. do you people think a 21 year old reliever in A ball with an era north of 3 will really transfer over well in the bigs?
He’s not a reliever, he’s a starter. That may change as he moves up in the minors (as will his K rate) but various scouting reports project him as a back-of-the-rotation ground-baller. As a Red Sox fan I may be biased but I think that this is a good trade for them. Not only do they get a quality arm but the addition-by-subtraction nature of the trade enables the Sox to give more innings to Doubront/Bowden/Richardson in September to see who can contribute to the bullpen in 2011.
not sure what the hell rockies are thinking here. trade a young starter not strapped with their notorious 1st round curse for a scuffling mid reliever.
I didn’t want to believe the rumors of looking for mediocre relievers was true. i was in denial. but no, the rox front office IS that clueless
Agree that the Rockies may end up regretting this trade. CBM’s ground-ball tendencies seem to be perfect for Colorado.
The RS are paying MDC’s salary and he’s either going to do well or Rock’s will non-tender him. So he’ll probably be focused and play for that arbit date.
This is kind of an odd move. Is Theo conceeding that the Sox might be out of it? Otherwise why make this trade for a player who isn’t going to impact 2010? You can’t even make the arguement that Delcarmen was taking up a spot on the 25 man and being replaced by someone better when the roster is a day away from expanding to 40. So what do Sox fans think? Is Theo sort of waving the white flag?
Boston has been out of it since Youk went down for the season for good IMO YFS78 and can’t believe so many fans were still holding out hope with Pedroia probably shelved for the season. Almost impossible without either NYY or TB to suffer those same key injuries at same time right now for them to climb back and even then would take a miracle.. That ’67 season magic was used up back then with all those kids on the roster, Francona prefers to use retreads like Hall instead and watch him strikeout 3-4 times each game at 2nd base rather than youngsters like Lowrie.
MDC will be missed, unlike Ramirez. He got a bad rap from the fans IMO and his FB did get back up to the 94-95mph range this season, nearly as high as the 96-97mph he was throwing at in previous seasons and his 12-6 curve was a good weapon. Imagine he will do good for the Rockies.
Trading MDC is no more “waving the white flag” than trading Ramirez was. Despite (or perhaps because of) Boston’s bullpen woes this year, those two were on their way out regardless of the team’s playoff contention status. Tito simply couldn’t trust either of them out of the bullpen anymore. The organization has been patient with MDC’s inconsistency over the years because of his good stuff and upside – he was given ample time to prove he could be a reliable and consistent late-inning reliever in Boston but for whatever reason, it just wasn’t working out. IMO this was a good move for all involved – Sox get a solid SP prospect and Rockies get a power reliever with strong stuff who will probably have greater success in the NL.
They waived the white flag on 7/31 when they made ZERO real moves. Delcarmen should’ve been traded then. Trading him now does nothing more than drop dead weight by adding a prospect that could help the team down the line.
Delcarmen is a career 4A player.
I respectfully disagree. Trading him now doesn’t just drop deadweight (which MDC has been). It also opens up a spot in the bullpen. Have you noticed the market for bullpen help this year? Nobody really good was available, and anybody even mediocre would’ve cost too much (just look at what the Dodgers gave up for Dotel). Theo and Co. looked at the market and decided that it would be best to improve the bullpen internally by getting rid of MDC and RR and giving those innings to Bowden/Doubront/Richardson/Manual. It’s a much better decision than giving up somebody like Ryan Westmoreland for somebody like Scott Downs. And I wouldn’t say they waved the white flag at the trading deadline. There was a lot of action this year, but as far as the Red Sox’s needs were concerned, there weren’t any impact players on the market that would’ve suited their needs; no Jason Bay or V-Mart or even Eric Gagne. The players that could help them were just too expensive to obtain and unlike say, the Dodgers, they won’t mortgage the future for present mediocrity. I don’t disagree that MDC probably should’ve been traded by the deadline to see what the Sox had internally. But at the same time, given the volatility of bullpen arms, I can’t really blame the Sox giving MDC a bit longer leash. Given that he’s a cheap hometown boy who’s had success, it must’ve stung Theo a bit to give him up, and I credit him for getting a nice arm in return at this point in the season.I know this has been a lost/disappointing/frustrating season but I just don’t know what moves the Red Sox should’ve made at the deadline. As far as star players, it’s almost always impending FAs who get traded and this year’s class is relatively weak. Cliff Lee had already been traded, and Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth weren’t going to be. I don’t know who they could’ve gotten that would A) help them significantly in an area of need and B) wouldn’t cost Casey Kelly and/or other coveted prospects. At this point I am happy with playing for 2011. It was an unlucky season but I’d rather look ahead than mourn what could’ve should’ve would’ve happened had the team not been decimated by injuries. I’m eager to see what the new arms in the bullpen can do, and give more playing time to Salty to gauge what he can do at catcher once he comes off the DL.