BaseballAmerica.com: Majors: Trade Central: Julio Joins Third Team In A Year

Julio Joins Third Team In A Year

By Matt Eddy
May 13, 2007

The Deal

The Marlins and Rockies exchanged righthanded pitching projects May 13, with Jorge Julio heading to Denver and Byung-Hyun Kim to Miami.

The Big Leaguers

Julio, 28, began the 2006 season with the Mets, finished it with the Diamondbacks, and now the Rockies become the fifth organization for which he's pitched. Julio has legitimate power stuff, with a mid- to high-90s fastball and a high-80s slider, but he gets into trouble and is more hittable than he should be because he doesn't locate his pitches well. Strikeouts have never been a problem for Julio (8.6 per nine innings for his career), but too many walks (4.4) and home runs (1.3) have. In his last game with the Marlins, he yielded a walk-off grand slam to Ryan Zimmerman.

Kim, 28, has 44-52, 4.15 big league numbers and has racked up 86 saves, but since joining the Rockies in 2005, he's been used mostly as a starter. Kim generates good velocity and a quality slider from a low-sidearm angle that righthanded batters find befuddling. They've hit just .216/.291/.337 off Kim in the big leagues. Like Julio, Kim has been a strikeout artist (8.7 per nine innings), though he's been more in control of his walk (3.9) and home run (0.9) tendencies.

Quick Take

Julio had failed miserably as Marlins closer--blowing both his save opportunities and posting a miserable 6-11 strikeouts-walks ratio--and needs a complete mechanical and confidence overhaul. Kim had failed to make the Rockies' rotation out of spring training but is at least in working order. He provides a very tough look for opposing batters, as evidenced by his 31-11 strikeouts-walks in 24 Triple-A innings this season, and will be immediately inserted into Florida's rotation.

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