Twins Lose Kevin Slowey for the Year

The Minnesota Twins returned home on Monday night after a 4-6 road trip in which they lost four of their last five, and the return home paid off with a 4-3 win over the White Sox. Still, while the win was nice, odds are that the Twins clubhouse wasn't in the greatest mood afterward.

With the team's core players already pleading with general manager Bill Smith to make a deal before the trade deadline, the Twins just discovered a new hole they're going to have to plug. Kevin Slowey had wrist surgery that is going to end his year.

"It's a tough break," Gardenhire said of Slowey's injury. "Our depth is not where we want it to be anyway, and now there's a little bit more of it gone."

Rookie Anthony Swarzak is now entrenched in a rotation that includes Glen Perkins, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano and Nick Blackburn. Perkins, for one, has mentioned shoulder concerns, and if the Twins need another starter, their best options reside in their bullpen, with R.A. Dickey, Bobby Keppel and Brian Duensing.

Slowey's ERA of 4.86 this season isn't anything amazing, but he is 10-3, by far the best record of any starter currently left in the Twins rotation. Now aside from the immediate impact of losing one of your best pitchers for the season, this also affects how the Twins will do anything on the trade front.

Before this injury the Twins were looking for infielders -- Orlando Cabrera, Freddy Sanchez, Marco Scutaro -- and bullpen help. Now it seems that their most glaring lead would be another starter, and they've already been told by the Blue Jays that they're not on the list of teams Roy Halladay would waive his no-trade clause for.

The other problem this causes?

Well, without Slowey the Twins have no depth in their pitching staff, and they had been hoping to use one of those extra starters to bring in one of those infielders or relievers. So Slowey's injury might just kill the Twins ability to make any moves this week.