The Giants acquired left-hander Ben Bowden from the Rays, as revealed by Triple-A Durham manager Brady Williams (hat tip to Durham broadcaster Patrick Kinas). There isn’t any word yet on what the Rays sent back in the deal. Bowden makes his return to the NL West, after spending the majority of his professional career in the Rockies organization.
Colorado drafted Bowden 45th overall in 2016, and while his development was slowed by two missed seasons (2017 due to injury, and naturally 2020 due to the canceled minor league campaign), the southpaw eventually reached the majors in 2021. Bowden posted a 6.56 ERA over 35 2/3 innings out of the Rockies’ bullpen, with a 23.7% strikeout rate and a mediocre 11.9% walk rate.
Control problems have been an issue for Bowden for much of his career, with an 11.56% walk rate to show for 168 2/3 innings in the minor leagues. However, he has also recorded plenty of strikeouts, and has a solid 3.42 ERA to show for his time on the farm. The 2022 season could act as a microcosm of Bowden’s inconsistency — he posted an 8.22 ERA in 7 2/3 frames with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate, before delivering a 2.45 ERA for Triple-A Durham after being claimed by the Rays in April.
Even within that improvement with the Bulls, Bowden still has an ungainly 14.4% walk rate. Tampa Bay designated the lefty for assignment in May and then outrighted him off their 40-man roster, so San Francisco and the 28 other teams all opted to pass on Bowden during that stint on the DFA wire.
Bowden has shown enough potential that it is easy to understand why the Giants (a club with a proven knack for developing pitchers) would have interest, especially since the 27-year-old is already a big league-ready arm. With Jose Alvarez on the 60-day injured list until September, Bowden gives the Giants another left-handed depth option for their bullpen at either the MLB or Triple-A level.
I don’t want to hijack Ben Bowden’s day in the sun, but shouldn’t there be a speculative post about the Yankees top prospects being pulled earlier? Certainly that should get a lot of views
@bucsfan0004- most definitely but the Yankees did score a ton of runs(12) in that game. I would think the Reds, Pirates, and Nationals all have interest in Jasson Dominguez and Trey Sweeney. Would the Pirates trade their closer Bednar and Reynolds to the Yankees for Dominguez and Sweeney? Lmk
Not even close. They would want more than that for either. J-rod was the starting point for the Mariners. Maybe those two plus Volpe/Peraza?
@AverageCommentar- definitely thinking that the Yankees will finally give in, and trade Oswald Peraza in a Luis Castillo package that includes Waldichuk, Warren and a catcher that they have at AAA now Josh Breaux.
Castillo will prob end up in Toronto most like for Moreno. Tor has Kirk and reds need a catcher and Moreno is most like the top player reds can get for Castillo. I like volpe better, but doubt he will be traded.
Moreno could also getting soto talks started but tor has more of a pitching need
Hypothetical question.. let’s say the Yankees do acquire Luis Castillo from the Reds but Anthony Volpe is part of the package going back to Cincinnati.. How would the Yankee fans on here feel about gaining Castillo but losing the future potential of Volpe at the same time? I only ask because I’ve seen 90% of the fan base say he’s untouchable so I’m just curious how some of you all would feel if it happened.
Why would you say the Reds need a catcher when they have Tyler Stephenson, one of the most exciting young catchers in the game? I know Stephenson has had some injury issues this year but I don’t think it screams the Reds need a catcher.
@Joe It All- great question. With all that said the Yankees have said” that Anthony Volpe will not be traded”
Yankees fans always say that. Last year it was J Dominguez. I’m sure they’d be thrilled though ! There staff has way over produced to this point of season so law of averages are gonna catch up.
Reds have a bad record of trading too end talent and dealing w yanks/dodgers. Be interesting to see it all play out
Every team needs 2 catchers. Stephenson will have his catching duties reduced when he’s back. He is 6’4 and was injured some in minors too and reds need him in middle of that lineup. He’s best served as backup catcher and starting first baseman.
Reds have no other catcher big league ready – that’s why they need one
@Big whiffa- Castillo is not going to Toronto. That ship has sailed. Moreno is a really nice top prospect though. If the Yankees finally offer Peraza, then Castillo is going to the Yankees. The Reds and Yankees are already deep in talks about a trade that would include Peraza, Waldichuk, Breaux, and Warren. The Blue Jays best opportunity to acquire Castillo was last year but they traded for Berrios instead.
@Big whiffa- you really think the Blue Jay prospects are better then the Yankees prospects? Lololololololol!!!
@Big whiffa- I hate to ask you “how many times you’ve struck out in life?” I guess not getting Castillo will be one of those times?
Not a jays fan.
I’m also not a fan of over valuing catchers. That said – Mareno is a much better centerpiece than peraza as tiedemenn is better than any Yankees pitching prospect.
It doesn’t matter what he thinks. All that matters is what the Cincinnati Reds think.
@stymeedone- All that really matters is the Cincinnati Reds will like the Yankees offer the best.
@Big whiffa- Nobody is saying that Moreno is isn’t a really nice top prospect. But it’s going to take a lot more then him, and that pitcher for the Jays to get Castillo. Like I said Toronto got their Castillo last year: Berrios. The Yankees have much better prospects then the BlueJays.
Think u got Castillo and soto confused. Moreno alone is better than package for berrios and tiedemann is the 1/2 that gets soto convo going. Yanks system is deeper, but not as top heavy as Toronto
Nah got nothing confused. Jays are not getting Castillo at all. Like I said they could of gotten him last season, when they really needed him, but didn’t. They barely snuck in the playoffs, with their “big offensive stacked line-up” Look how that worked out? Please stop being delusional.
Joe It All, in answer to your question, I’d point out that some scouts have questioned Volpe’s ability to stick at shortstop because they say he doesn’t have the kind of arm strength you’d want for throws from deep in the hole. If the Yankees think he’ll ultimately be shifted to second base, he might be more expendable. Gleyber Torres is still only 25 years old. I guess maybe it comes down to how much you value the opinions of anonymous scouts.
Then again, Volpe will not be traded. That answered the question really. Smh
I suspect he will stick at SS. He worked quite a bit on his arm over the postseason and supposedly it’s no longer an issue. All the other aspects of his defense rate as plus. The challenge is Peraza is regarded as a plus-plus defender, so figuring out the Volpe, Peraza and Gleyber positions will be interesting, but also a good problem to have. I suspect Peraza gets moved to help fill another need.
@RobM- Volpe can play short, but he even says that Peraza is the better defensive player. The plan was to keep Peraza for shortstop and have Volpe to slide over to 2nd. If Peraza is traded in a Castillo or a Soto package they could have Volpe play short even though he is more suited to play 2nd. Alexander Vargas is 2 years away and Volpe is probably to.(maybe2.5) Keep an eye on Roderick Arias who is probably like 3.5 years away and is being groomed for shortstop but he doesn’t have to stay there. Yanks are loaded with shortstops.
@CaptJudge99
I think its wishful thinking on your part to think the Yankees could get 7+ years’ worth of control for two prospects. I think NYY is planning on outbidding someone for a rental.
@bucsfan0004- I think you could get a lot more control with the prospects going back to Pittsburg, right? Lol. And, let’s stop pretending that Bryan Reynolds is better then Juan Soto all of a sudden also. There is no comparison. He’s a nice player though.
Yeah! Reynolds can run and play defense. How dare you compare him to Soto!
@stymeedone- Yeah! Reynolds can run and play defense. But you can’t even put him in the same sentence as Soto!
Hypothetically shouldn’t Giants fans be talking about the trade under this post?
Where are the real trades? Tick tock.
The article says he’s right handed and the picture show him being left handed ?? I’m not going to look it up, I’ll let the author look it up.
It says in the article that he’s both left- and right- handed… another Venditte?
He’s a lefty. I watched him pitch very poorly for the Rox and he is only a lefty
welcome to SSSF on its way to the bottom. grab a bucket.
SF, PHI, and STL might be a close WC race, but if everyone keeps losing it could get quite boring.
San Francisco Giants. LOL
Just took a well deserved AssssBeating in LA .
SWEPT in a 4 game series. They’re DONE
As far as winning the division, yes. But they’re still very much in the thick of things for the wild card and they have 2 very good starting pitchers that could make them a threat in a playoff series. Anything can happen once you “get in”.
Remember – it’s now how you’re playing in July, it’s how you’re playing in October.
I wouldn’t call them done yet.
Wipe your chin, bro.
They’re hardly done in the last week of July when they’re two games out of the Wild Card and have a better run differential than the Padres.
They are cold dogshite
I looked it up. He’s a southpaw.
Bowden – really! Classic Zaidi dumpster diving.
Career control problems; 11.56% walk rate; 3.42 ERA, and supposedly big league-ready arm.
Guess this transaction is an indicator of what direction Zaidi is heading towards the trade deadline. Definitely not a “superstar!”
lol Giants operating like they’re a broke small market team. What an embarrassing way to follow up a 107 wins..
I don’t get it. Giants are loaded. I get the history of bad contracts but still…
I hope sf or tx get soto for the sake of parity
Cheap ownership.
@VirginiaGiant- are you still goin’ say their cheap if they sign Aaron Judge next season? That’s apparently who they really want to splurge on.
“the Giants (a club with a proven knack for developing pitchers).” There you go.
As each series passes, it becomes clearer and clearer just how much of an outlier last year was for SF. They must have caught every possible ounce of lightning in their bottle. Now that they’ve returned to earth, its clear how poorly the roster has been constructed. When the bulk of your lineup is a below average ML hitter that would be on the bench on most competitive teams, it’s not hard to see why they are where they are this year.
Either Buster Posey was one of the greatest leaders MLB history, they were a complete fluke, or they were cheating somehow. It’s probably a little bit of all three.
“When the bulk of your lineup is a below average ML hitter that would be on the bench on most competitive teams”
The Giants have 10 guys on their active roster hitting 100 wRC+ or greater…
I get being frustrated, but at least TRY to look at the stats before you make silly statements.
Totally fair. Frustrated, sure. But at some point, you have to look past the stats alone and ask whether or not the lineup really passes the eye test or not. And when you stack it up against the other contenders in the NL, it simply doesn’t. Its especially silly when you consider that they have the finances to be creating a lineup of non-dumpster dives/catch lightning/reclamation players.
The “eye test” nonsense is so dumb. Your eyes tell you whatever the heck they want them to.
The stats reveal that “above average hitting” is not the issue.
People also don’t take into account the complete overhaul in philosophy from a hitting and pitching standpoint from the last regime to this one. They simply just chalk it up to, “everyone had a career year.” While that’s true, it’s not the main reason why all those veterans were successful last year. Losing Posey and flat out refusing to replace him has also hurt tremendously.
Semi-unrelated: There’s really no excuse not to spend money when you have it like the Giants do, but if Zaidi is trying to build young talent before throwing out cash to pair with the aforementioned young talent, don’t expect a Soto acquisition. It’s exactly what the Dodgers have done since 2014 and how they’ve been able to have such sustained success.
The idea that the 2021 Giants are close to the same team as the 2022 Giants, and can be compared, is ridiculous. They’re missing big parts of what made the 2021 team successful.
Besides losing Posey, and Tony Watson, Wade has hardly played this year, Casali has missed a ton of time. Among the position players, only Wilmer and Slater are guys that haven’t spent time on the IL.
DeSclafani wasn’t physically right all this season before going down. Jakob Junis wasn’t a part of 2021, but he had a 134 ERA+ when he went down. They lost Jose Alvarez to the 60 day IL, and Zack Littell is out as well..
I expected regression, but that isn’t enough to account for this bad an outcome. It wasn’t that they were so lucky in 2021, though I admit they were to some extent, it’s just that they’ve been incredibly unlucky this season.
The 2021 Giants were very lucky with the health of their starting rotation, given that they were almost all a bunch of glass bodies coming off injuries that nobody else trusted to make it through a season. The performances weren’t that surprising, just most of those guys being able to stay on the field most of the time.
They had some luck with the rotation’s health, but to say they were very lucky. is wrong. Webb missed the entire month of June. Wood missed even more time than Webb. And Cueto missed almost a third of the season.
They needed to start Aaron Sanchez in 7 games, Sam Long in 5 games, and Scott Kasmir in 4. Plus they needed relievers to start an additional 9 games. Sounds more like good management than just good luck.
Major trade deadline transactions should be firing the person (Zaidi) who put this year’s Giants roster together. And firing the manager (Kapler) who continues to blame everyone else but himself.
They had a superstar in Posey. Gausman, Solano. Crawford and Belt had GREAT years.
All that is history and they’re basically a .500 team with falling attendance & owner committee that doesn’t want to spend anything. Wouldn’t be surprised if Farhan left to go somewhere there’s money willing to be spent. Couldn’t blame him.
The Giants would have to get Soto, Castillo, Drury, Contreras and Josh Bell to get 10 games over .500.
I don’t look for them to do much of anything b4 the deadline.
Mark,,were you drinking when you wrote this?
This doesn’t make sense to you?
“There isn’t any word yet on what the Rays Bowden makes his return to the NL West, after spending the majority of his professional career in the Rockies organization.”
Rays are selling
The rays are selling
They are done for now
Not a haiku
@Highest IQ- how’d dare you disrespect the Sting Rays like that? Yeah they look pretty well done.
Keep biting, kid. Still have lots of growing up to do.
@StPeteStingRays- And apparently so do you and your Sting Rays. Yankees 27, Sting Rays 0, for all those keeping score at home, and we all know you all are. Good luck this season fool!
How do you know that Yankee fans are desperate for postseason relevance again?
They go on a post about a (San Francisco) Giants move and brag about 27 rings, most of which were won before they even let black people play baseball.
@Big whiffa- hey everyone knows your going to strike out. Maybe next time you could at least swing the bat?
I enjoy your comments because they are rapid fire nonsense like my Italian uncle. Just with less “ooohs”, “eyyyyos”, and the shoulder slaps to tell me when the punchline happens.
Well the Giants need to do SOMETHING because that bullpen is leaking
Man…they’re going for it now!
THIS TEAM IS GARBAGE
Says the garbage man.
I can only expend so much energy on a post like this, but did I miss who went back in the acquisition?
Beyond that, the Rays Pro-Scouting group is top notch. They seem to build more from there than the actual drafts at times. Meanwhile, the Giants are good at extracting value from relievers, but so are the Rays. Who will win?!