Colorado Rockies Trade for Mychal Givens
The Colorado Rockies acquired Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Mychal Givens Sunday. Jon Heyman of MLB Network had the news first on Twitter.
Sources: Mychal Givens traded to Rockies
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 30, 2020
First with news on the return for Givens was Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Clearly I meant Rockies will send those players to the Orioles. Fast typing gets me every time. https://t.co/ITkDJQSNeW
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 30, 2020
While Givens might not be the most popular reliever in baseball, he has been highly effective for the Orioles this season. Going into play Sunday, the 30-year old right-hander had a 1.83 ERA over 13 innings. In that span, he has a 13.2 K/9 rate along with a 2.60 Fielding Independent Percentage (FIP).
For the Rockies, adding Givens to the mix is impactful. Entering Sunday, the Rockies sat in third place in the National League West with a 17-16 record. That put them seven games behind the division leading Los Angeles Dodgers, but they would be in the playoffs.
Furthermore, the Rockies pitching staff has been a mixed bag of results all season. From a starting rotation perspective, the Rockies rotation has a 4.14 ERA over 33 games. However, the bullpen has struggled to the tune of a 5.81 ERA over 105 and one-third innings of work. That gives the Rockies the third-highest bullpen ERA in baseball behind only the Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners. Givens should help to stabilize things for Colorado.
Baltimore Orioles Continue Selling Off Assets
On the other side of the trade, the Baltimore Orioles are acquiring three pieces as mentioned above. Shortstop Terrin Vavra ranks as the seventh-best prospect in the Rockies farm system. Vavra rates above league average in the hit tools category with a score of 55 on the scouting scale. Scouts really like how Vavra makes contact with the baseball during each of his at-bats and sprays the ball to all parts of the field. He will need to continue to work on his defense, but very well could be a part of the Orioles infield mix in the future.
Additionally, the other player in the trade ranks as the Rockies 14th overall prospect in first/third baseman Tyler Nevin. Projecting into the future, scouts believe that Nevin possesses the ability to be a quality first baseman. However, there are also some who believe that he might end up turning into a utility player instead. He hasn’t reached his full power potential yet, but maybe a change of scenery will change that.
The other part of the trade is a player to be named later. Given that teams can only trade players from their 60-player pool this Trade Deadline, teams cannot announce players outside of that pool until this offseason.
Final Thoughts
In the end, the Colorado Rockies are getting a very valuable reliever in Mychal Givens. Givens should help their team in their quest of being a serious postseason contender. For the Baltimore Orioles, the rebuild continues with an eye on trying to acquire as many impactful pieces as possible for the future.
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