The Dodgers just added another veteran right-handed arm. They have just announced that Minnesota Twins starting pitcher and Southern California native Kevin Correia is now a Dodger. In return we gave the Twins a "Player to be Named Later" or cash. Per a Dodger press release:
“Kevin gives us an additional option as a starter or long reliever,” said Colleti. “He also supplies us with more veteran pitching depth for the stretch drive.”In other words, Correia takes over the role once held by Paul Maholm; as our long reliever and spot starter. BTW, he currently leads the league in loses with 13. Oy Vie!
Correia, who will turn 34 on August 24, has won at least nine games while making 26 or more starts in each of the last five seasons since 2009, during which time he’s struck out more than twice as many as he’s walked with 585 strikeouts and only 290 walks. He was selected to the 2011 National League All-Star team as a member of the Pirates and has appeared in 344 games (213 starts) in 12 Major League seasons.
In 2014, Correia has gone 5-13 with a 4.94 ERA in 23 starts for Minnesota, including 13 quality starts and 16 starts of 6.0 or more innings. He has pitched well away from Target Field this season, posting a 3.17 ERA (23 ER/65.1 IP) in 11 road starts, and has gone 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA (7 ER/18.0 IP) in three starts against the National League West, with victories at Colorado and vs. San Diego.
Kevin Correia is a groundball pitcher who mainly throws a cutter, sinker and four-seam fastball. When he is ahead of the count he will use his cutter to get batters out, but will from time to time use a curveball to fool batters.
Since the beginning of July he has had 7 starts and a feeble 1-6 record in those games, but that may be deceiving. In five of those starts he given up less than three runs, and has only walked a total of 12 batters in 39 innings. Since it is unlikely any prospects of consequence was exchanged for Correia this is a low-risk move to provide some depth and veteran leadership. Whether he can provide some outs will be another issue. From my understanding, the Dodgers will be on the hook for about $1.5Million in his salary. I would say that this is a underwhelming trade for the Dodgers.
In celebration of Kevin Correia officially becoming a Dodger, I made the above fantasy card for him. I used an AP photo taken by Elise Amendola grabbed from an StarTribune.com story and the 1959 Topps Baseball card design.
Below are his career statistics, via Baseball Reference:
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The best his ERA has been in the past 5 years was 4.18, and the worst was 5.40. If this guy makes a positive difference to the Dodgers pitching staff, then that's bad news for Dodger Nation.
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