Colorado Rockies trade RHP Juan Nicasio to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a Player to be Named Later
By Andrew Dill
Sep 3, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio (12) delivers a pitch during the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. The Rockies won 9-2. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
According to the official Twitter account of the Colorado Rockies Communications Department, Colorado traded RHP Juan Nicasio to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for a player to be named later (PTBNL).
The #Rockies have traded RHP Juan Nicasio to the Dodgers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) November 24, 2014
I for one am not in favor of trading a player within the division, no matter how good their skill set is – it can always come back around and bite you. During the 2013 offseason, Colorado traded top prospect Drew Pomeranz to the Oakland A’s in exchange for Brett Anderson. Didn’t work out for the Rockies with Anderson’s injuries but Oakland sure had some good use out of Pomeranz.
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Nicasio struggled yet again during the 2014 campaign, flip-flopping between the starting rotation and bullpen. Nicasio started 14 games for the Rockies this past season, collecting a record of 6-6 due to his offense putting up 6.79 runs per contest. His ERA was flat-out ugly which sat at 5.38.
Nicasio has some good stuff pertaining to his pitches, but has never been able to fully develop which points directly at Colorado’s staff. Colorado has failed year-after-year in developing pitching which we hope doesn’t happen with pitchers such as Eddie Butler, Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson, and Kyle Freeland just to name a few.
Over his four-year career with Colorado, Nicasio went 21-22 with a 5.03 ERA, striking out 294 batters over 381.0 innings pitched. Nicasio has the wipe-out stuff to be a 3-5 starting pitcher in this league, but like I said above, has lacked the development and leadership from fellow teammates and coaches. Nicasio’s fastball velocity did dip last season, but he was still averaging around the range of 91-93 MPH.
I am wishing Juan Nicasio nothing but the best of luck as he now goes to the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers, but hope this doesn’t come back around to bite Colorado.