TODAY: Several organizations have held “preliminary dialogue” with the Pads regarding Hand, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. He’s “drawing keen interest,” per Lin, who suggests that the southpaw could be the first player the team deals away this summer.
YESTERDAY: The Padres recently reaffirmed to clubs that they’re “open for business,” and lefty reliever Brad Hand is the “primary” piece that they have on the table at present, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link).
San Diego’s willingness to sell off pieces isn’t exactly a new development, though the fact that the Padres are marketing Hand (or are at least willing to part with him) is of note. It does not, however, seem that there have been any serious trade discussions regarding Hand just yet; Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune tweets that the Friars have had some “very preliminary” on the lefty. Lin adds in a full column that Hand has “emerged as a coveted trade piece.”
It’s early in the year to see a trade for such a notable commodity take place, though the Padres have been a definitive seller for quite some time now, so perhaps they’d be more willing than most to move a quality reliever. The 27-year-old Hand may not be a household name, but he’s emerged as a dominant relief arm since the Padres plucked him off waivers from the Marlins in early April last year.
Since joining the Padres, Hand has turned in 115 1/3 innings of 2.65 ERA ball with a 146-to-46 K/BB ratio. He’s held left-handed opponents to a comical .123/.234/.221 batting line in that time but also shut down right-handed batters to the tune of a .219/.295/.350 triple slash.
That level of excellence figures to appeal to just about any club in need of bullpen help, but the most appealing aspect in a potential Hand trade could be the amount of club control remaining on his contract. The former second-round pick still has two years of control beyond the 2017 season remaining, and he’s earning a modest $1.375MM in 2017. That makes him financially affordable for virtually any team in the Majors, although the low salary and considerable amount of control remaining should also make the Padres’ asking price rather substantial.
It’s also worth noting that struggles from Hand’s teammate, Brandon Maurer, have opened up the ninth-inning picture in San Diego somewhat. Maurer worked the eighth inning tonight in a one-run game (and fired a perfect frame against the Mets), while Hand was tabbed for the save by manager Andy Green. The outing wasn’t exactly pretty — Hand loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk before recording an out — but Hand did manage to fire a scoreless inning to notch his third career save. Green, however, said after the game that Hand is not necessarily his new closer (Twitter link via MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell). Rather, the Padres will take save opportunities on a case-by-case basis and mix in both Maurer and Hand.
MLBTR’s Jeff Todd listed Hand among the game’s likeliest summer trade candidates last week when previewing some names to keep an eye on as the July 31 non-waiver deadline draws nearer. Hand figures to be just one of many assets that the Padres market to rival clubs this summer as general manager A.J. Preller continues his effort to stock his farm system and build a sustainable contender. Trevor Cahill, assuming he returns to health, would be another ideal trade candidate for the Padres. Names like Yangervis Solarte, Clayton Richard and perhaps Maurer (if he regains his form) also figure to frequent the rumor circuit this summer.
This has STL written all over it.
Would love to see that, DFA broxton or socolovich for this guy would be a huge plus.
Zach Duke getting closer to a return and Cards have already spent big on lefty Cecil. More wishful thinking than reality
Zach Duke is not getting closer to return. He “may” pitch this year.. if he does it won’t be until late August.. coming off of TJ you really want him to be a primary guy in the post season (assuming Cards make it). I could see the birds making this move.
One Hand is worth two in Busch, sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Nice
I got to Hand that one to you.
Twins need to pull the trigger on a deal for hand
I agree.
Twins would be a nice landing spot for him.
Can’t wait for all the Hand puns to fill the comment section!
Guarantee there’s someone on here with plenty of puns at hand!
You can always count on a happy ending when hand does his job.
Plus one
When another GM calls I bet the conversation starts with “I could really use a Hand.”
As relievers go, is one Hand worth five Fingers?
A lot of teams do need that extra….hand!
Gotta hand it to the padres. They found a nice gem from the marlins.
Ok but what could the padres realistically expect as a return for hand. Dominant relievers dont come cheap and hand has another 2 years on his contract. So he will cost a pretty penny.
Keep in mind preller is going to turn a pitcher he claimed on waivers into a seriously nice haul. If padres get a great package pull the trigger.
What teams have a surplus of ss that are near MLB ready? That is what preller should seek in a hand deal.
The Yankees possibly? Mateo and Ian Clarkin for Hand? St.Louis does make sense as well, I know the Padres had interest in that SS that failed the drug test prior to the draft who slipped to the cardinals at 24 right before the Padres selected Laurer, the guys on MLB network thought he was for sure gonna get picked by the Pads, drawing a blank on his name though, but possibly him and a couple other pieces from STL. If the Twins think they are for real maybe they part with Nick Gordon. Just some early personal opinions.
Delvin Perez is the STL SS. He’s a high risk, high reward type who’s just 18. I think the padres would prefer someone closer to the bigs since his ETA is 2020-21 and thats when Tatis and all those Latin FA’s from last year should be knocking on the door.
Nick Gordon from the twins or Jorge Mateo from the Yankees are closer to the bigs and would be huge gets for the Padres. They’re also like top 50-ish guys and I just don’t know if Hand is enough for a return like that. Who knows, they were able to flip Pomeranz for Espinoza straight up last year so maybe with all of Hand’s control something similar will happen here.
Yup, Delvin Perez. Thanks for the pick me up on that one.
The trade talks for Hand really do need to start with the teams who have surprised to start the season and who are planning to go for it if they see fit. The Twins, Brewers and Yankees all fit that bill, not to mention to pieces they have have in their upper minors are basically carbon-copy fits to what SD needs. Jorge Mateo would be target number one if I were Preller.
MLB Network radio was saying that negotiations for Hand would start with at least one top 100 prospect and 1-2 other players. They mentioned the Twins and the Brewers if they are still in contention come July among other teams that surprisingly included the Red Sox. A couple of names I caught as the headliner of a possible trade were Hader from the Brewers and Gordon from the Twins. Nothing is going to happen until July, so this all has some time to see how the standings play out.
I really don’t know where MLB Network Radio’s folks would have come up with that information, but in my view it’s pretty silly to be tying specific prospect names from kinda-still-rebuilding orgs to Brad Hand in late May.
(Not to say it’s not okay for people in the comments here to discuss scenarios — have at it. Also, I think it is at least possible he’s dealt in June. Not likely, perhaps, but possible … fwiw.)
It’s a call-in format, so not necessarily experts making the predictions, just guys being brought up on the show and discussed.
The Brewers are not going to trade Hader for Hand. That’s laughable. They have a long range rebuilding plan and they’re not going to compromise it.
We need someone that is near big league level at SS. We already have Tatis at low A, but who knows, if he keeps growing, he may end up at 3B
If the Yankees call Preller, he’d better hang up unless Mateo is involved. Miller was 4 for one if memory serves, with 2 being top 50..I need Mateo and their top starting pitching prospect for Hand. Hell..I’ll even be nice and throw in Maurer or Schimpf.
Yup. James Kaprielian is their top ranked pitching prospect but is slated to have Tommy John. Justus Sheffield is their next highest ranked pitching prospect behind him who they ironically got in the Andrew Miller deal last year. Mateo and Sheffield would be a huge get for the Padres, I think they would have to add another piece to get both prospects, possibly Cahill when he returns, he would nice starting pitching depth for NYY for the playoff stretch, can eat up some innings to keep the current rotation fresh
Wonder if Richard would get it done. He’s been excellent the last two years, and is a ground ball machine. Then we flip Cahill at the deadline for two more AA/AAA solid prospects (think bp guys with high velocity), and we’re pretty much good to go for the ’19/’20 run. Plenty of cash left over to go after an ace or two as well.
I am hoping the Orioles are in the running for Cahill, but he has been pitching so well as a starter that if he returns and shows he is healthy over the next month he may get the Padres a top 100 prospect plus in return and the O’s really don’t have anyone that fits the Padres needs. Sisco is a nice player, but the Padres have Hedges, Sanchez, and Torrens and I doubt they would take a couple of guys playing for Frederick for him.
SS and pitching are mainly what the Padres will be looking for. They have Tatis Jr. who looks great so far, to play 3rd in a couple of years, Urias, who’s a hitting machine, to play second, and they’re set around the OF, 1B, and C. I expect a TOP SS prospect, as well as a bunch of pitching prospects for guys like Hand, Cahill, Solarte, Etc. then let them gel together from the minors to the majors, and it’ll be some amazing complements to what should be 3-4 all star caliber position players. And that’s not even mentioning Espinoza, Paddack, Quantril, and Lauer, who should all be good to go around ’19 assuming injuries don’t catch up with them. Either way, I’m willing to bet that the Padres have the top rated minor league system in baseball at the start of the ’18 season. It’s amazing how they have a knack for turning waiver wire guys into top 100 prospects!
Yeah, that’s not happening. The pen isn’t nearly that much of a need to give up Mateo plus our top pitching prospect for Hand.
Cincinnati. Suarez, Peraza, Cozart, Jennings, Herrera could all be proficient at SS.
Gennett….stupid auto correct
we are rebuilding, no need to trade anyone for a bullpen piece. if anything we need starters.
Somebody that could replace Arroyo would be a nice start lol
Agreed. Although another lefty to complement Peralta in the pen wouldn’t hurt if the price was right. I don’t have much faith in Cingrani producing or staying healthy. The Reds managing to tread water to this point has been remarkable. In that division a 7-3 or 8-2 run puts you at the top, so maybe around the deadline the Reds make a move like this if they are within 6-8 games of the leader.
I don’t want to give up on Mateo just yet, but the Yanks still have Tyler Wade(MLB-ready right now) and Thairo Estrada(AA) available. Personally, before making a move for any lefty, I’d like the Yanks to DFA Layne and give Tyler Webb a shot.
Come on Mets! Get in contention so the Padres can get Rosario for Hand!
These all seem kinda high asking prices. At these rates I think I’d rather keep my prospects and go after another LHP.
lolz…a top 5 prospect for Hand. Aim high I guess!
Yall idiots thinking we’d trade good prospects for Brad Hand is a joke
I don’t get the Padres. Why do they trade their veterans for young, controllable talent. Then trade away that young talent for more young, controllable talent? With some patience they can develop these kids and have a solid team in a few years.
A rebuilding team should not be building around a reliever (no matter how dominant) when they can get younger players, especially a reliever they claimed off waivers.
An overachieving reliever on a rebuilding team is perhaps the most obvious trade candidate in baseball.
Because they are striving to have a great team not just a good one. Their strategy leads to having extra controllable talent, or better controllable talent.
Love the job preller has done lately
U must be a Dodgers fan!
I would think that most Padres fans would be real happy with both the quality and depth of prospects he has built up both at the major league level and in the minors. How many teams have 2 guys that are in the running for ROY and 4 guys with less than a year of service time starting in the majors?
BA had a prospect chat the other day and they were saying that the Padres have 35 plus guys that would be in the top 20 in every other organization and 22 that would be in the top 10 of every system except the Braves, Yankees and White Sox. As an O’s fan, I was more than a bit jealous of how deep their system is, although we have been contending in the best division in baseball for 4 years now.
Ah yes padreforlife and the rest of the people who said that no one would trade with Preller or that Preller wouldn’t be able to get a fair return for any of his pieces are eating some crow right now.
Well he hasn’t done anything that contradicts either of those assessments, however wrong they may be.
The trades he has made since the offseason started (including trading Derek Norris who the Nationals weren’t able to find a taker for just 3 short months later) and the fact that he is receiving calls on Brad Hand kinda do contradict those assessments…
100%
Norris trade, about the only trade Preller has made since his suspension , is a terrible backup to your argument. He’s been a declining asset since the Padres obtained him prior to 2016.
It’s a good backup to my argument since the Padres were able to trade him and then three months later, while Norris played in zero games during that time so his value didn’t decline any further, the Nats were not able to trade him. So it looks like teams would rather trade with Preller than Mike Rizzo.
Oh and as for Norris being “about the only trade Preller has made since his suspension,” I’m still waiting for you to tell me what players the Padres have who they didn’t trade last offseason who you think they should have traded.
Norris trade was not significant
It was significant because Preller was able to trade him and then the Nats weren’t able to 3 months later after zero games had been played so you can’t say Norris’ trade value declined any.
Really Preller make a significant trade lately?
What significant trades has he even had to make lately? Padres had very little in the way of obvious trade candidates last offseason. Derek Norris (who was traded), anyone else?
The Padres shouldn’t overplay their Hand.
The Astros could use another LHP out of the pen and have plenty of quality prospects in their system. They could be a good match as a trading partner here.
Only kmock on the astros is they dont have an mlb ready ss prospect like the twins do. They have a lot of pitching but I am sure padres want an mlb ready ss.
Between kelly lamet lockett mlb ready and nix quantril lauer etc all behind padres have pitching depth.
If the twins offered nick gordon, nick burdi, and lachlan wells for hand teams would have a hard team beating that unless they offer more prospects.
Padres have 4 starters coming off the books at the end of the season, so picking up a MLB ready starting pitcher should be good too.
But they have Lamet, Kelly, Lockett in who are MLB ready plus mlb caliber guys like Vargas, Cosart, Perdomo.. They have 4 guys coming off the books, but have 6 guys ready. Plus Padres could look to sign 1 or 2 guys to deals hoping to rebuild values. You can never have enough pitching, but I am sure top priority is to maximize Hand’s value by getting a good ss out of the deal over pitching.
Having too many major league ready starters is not a problem, especially with Urias crushing it in AA at 19 years old playing decent defense at SS and Cordoba hitting so well in the majors. Both can play SS until Preller gets us a long term answer at that position in trade or FA.
Lamet is in the majors and pitched a real nice game tonight. With Weaver probably done and Cosart hurt, he will get more starts in SD. Kelly is in AA and not ready and Lockett is not ready either. Neither will see much if any time in the majors this year. Vargas is not a MLB pitcher at all. Perdomo is already in the majors as well. He is our #5. So he is not coming or ready, he is already here. When Cosart returns he may join the rotation for a short time, but he is better suited to pitching out of the pen. So just 1 guy coming to help in the starting rotation next season and 3 spots to fill. Rea or Erlin may be able to fill a spot or even two when they return from TJ surgery. I think we are going to resign Richard, but Weaver and Chacin will not be resigned and Cahill will be traded.
I could see Diaz getting a chance to start kinda like Perdomo did last June. They got him in the Rule V as a starter, so at this point, it couldn’t hurt to see what he has. He has shown recently that he can got 2-3 innings. They may try and stretch him out to 4-5.
Not to mention they also have Colin Rea returning from Tommy John and should be ready for the start of 18′ along with Robbie Erlin and Erik Johnson. So they will have a few more options that could help fill he rotation.
Padres ready to give a contender a hand for the right pieces
I don’t think the Padres will get a huge haul for Hand, but they should manage at least one top-100 prospect plus maybe another piece for him. The return for Drew Pomeranz is probably a starting point. Hand walks too many batters to be considered a truly dominant reliever and has no real track record of success before joining the Padres. He also doesn’t have any kind of blatant home/road splits. They’ll get something useful for him. If only Schimpf wasn’t having such a bad season, he might have gotten something too.
Ok sure. 36 walks in 89 innings last year with 111k’s and only 63 hits. 2.92 era
This year he has 9 walks in 25 inning with 33k’s and 14hits. 1.80 era. Looks dominant to me over the last two years.
walking 3.5 batters per nine is a bit much. His 2016 reminds me a lot of Carlos Marmol’s 2010, when he threw 78 innings with 40 hits allowed and 138 K’s but also 52 walks. All those pitches add up, and Marmol was done as an effective reliever within two years. That was also Marmol’s age 27 season.. His career was over at age 31. So the Padres should get a good return from Hand before all those pitches add up.
Are there any Padres players you don’t hate?
Huh? I’m being realistic here. Hand throws a ton of pitches every outing. The Padres should move him ASAP. I’m a Padres fan of course – went to my first game in 1984 – but I can be realistic and pragmatic about the current team. I don’t hate any player. I just don’t enjoy watching this current team.
Schimpf is a fun and interesting player but he’s bad. Solarte and Aybar are not fun to watch. None of the starting pitchers are good. Almost none of the relievers are good. Hedges is exciting, Renfroe is an interesting guy that I like watching play but he is maybe the worst defensive outfielder I’ve ever seen. And if he has an OBP over .300 I’ll be surprised. Wil Myers is a fun guy, especially when he hits a home run, but trying to steal third with two outs, like he did tonight, unsuccessfully, is not good baseball. Margot is good. The seven or 8 second basemen on the roster aren’t really fun to watch, for the most part, although I’m intrigued by Cordoba.
Ok you lost me at Solarte not being fun to watch. He has the most energy of anyone on the team. He’s just slow. If you watched the game, you musta saw his 3 RBI and how he reacts. He’s a great team guy.
And saying Renfroe is the worst def OF, you musta forgot about Kemp. Plus, Renfroe has a laser for an arm.
Solarte is slow, not good fielder, doesn’t hustle, and weak hitter
1 game against Mets and you’re throwing
bouquets at him lol
3.5 walks per 9 isn’t bad considering how dominant he has been in every other facet of the game. Strikes out a ton of people, and his BAA is minuscule, even against righties, which shows he isn’t just a lefty specialist
THANK you BravesBoi! I like how minimizes the 2016 performance and BETTER sample size and cherry picks this SMALL sample size of 2017, even though it’s STILL not bad numbers. Dude, you’re wrong, why keep doubling down on a BAD argument?
From what I’ve seen Renfroe might be worse than Kemp, honestly. The arm is his only asset. As far as Solarte, I just don’t enjoy watching him play. I don’t particularly care about RBIs; he’s slow, not a good defender, the bat is just average. I give him credit for playing last season under great duress but he just doesn’t excite me.
All these arguments could have been made about Marmol in 2010. Hand is having a great run; he’s throwing a lot of pitches. The Padres will hopefully move him before he breaks.
People seem to forget Hand used to be a failed starter when with Miami before going to the pen, so can probably throw longer than a relief only pitcher.
Yeah like others have said, Hand is dominant right now and the Padres need to trade him soon. They could easily get back at least one top 100 prospect, or maybe two depending on the team.
DUH! MOST relievers were failed Starting Pitchers at some point.
Strike while the Iron is hot, which Preller did with both Pomeranz and Rodney last year. Trading guys early in the season as opposed to waiting until the hour before the deadline is a smart strategy especially with rebound guys who get off to a hot start because
A. You have more teams in play for the players services because it is still early enough that a lot of teams are still in contention, including the surprise teams who typically have stronger farm systems to pluck from.
And
B. You trade the asset in case Cinderella decides to turn into a pumpkin again, which was exactly what Rodney and Cashner did last year after arriving in Miami.
Marmol had 6..03 BB/9 in 2010 and had control problems before and after. That is nearly double Hand’s 3.45 this year and his 3.70 career numbers. Not a good comparison at all.
Marmol gave up less hits than Hand however. And struck out more batters. His 2010 K rate was insane – almost two per inning. But the comparison was basically pitch counts – Hand throws a ton of pitches for a reliever. Because relievers throw in high-leverage situations they tend to air it out every pitch, and Hand throws a ton of sliders….
But I suppose if you want a better comp we could probably use early career Rob Dibble. That guy struck out everyone, walked about 3.5 batters/9 inning, didn’t give up any hits, and he was cooked by the time he was 28. These sorts of guys are pretty fungible and so I hope SD doesn’t wait long to trade him.
Weren’t you the guy saying last offseason that the Padres should be looking to trade Renfroe?
Me? Not that I can recall. I mean, he’ll probably hit 25-30 homers this season, albeit with an OBP under 300 and he’s an abysmal outfielder. But he’s young enough to improve.
1.000 WHIP vs 1.185. Hand has been better than Marmol was that year. Hand has thrown 401 pitches in 26 IP or 15.4 pitches per IP. That’s really good, not a high number at all.
Miller, the guy he is being compared to, is throwing 15.54 P/IP.
Dude, your argument is Soooo bad that you have to go all the back to Dibble? C’mon man, give us break. Your argument on Hand stinks! You’re hoping he blows up to prove your point, but it’s not happening quick enough, so you’re making up stuff.
My argument is that relievers break, and Hand is good right now and the Padres hopefully get full value from him before he does. I certainly don’t hope for him to get hurt. He’s a good pitcher but he’s 27 and has no earthly reason to be pitching for the worst team in baseball..
Didn’t mean to imply that you wanted him to get hurt, but blow up as in start giving it up. I don’t think just b/c you’re good, you can’t pitch on a terrible team. Just face it, maybe he’s figured it out as a reliever and he’s more comfortable. There have been plenty that have done it
He’s a much better reliever than he was a starter, like Miller or Rivera or whatever. And maybe he has a long and fruitful career as a reliever. I hope he does because I don’t like seeing good pitchers have short careers. But there’s a risk, especially with all those sliders, and I hope SD cashes in sooner rather than later.
Hand is throwing 15 pitches per IP. That’s good in any book. Miller is about the same or a little more. Cahill has a 3.27 ERA and is striking out 11 per 9IP. That is really good. Renfroe has made a few rookie throwing mistakes being to aggressive with his cannon arm, but he is still miles and miles ahead of Kemp at Kemp’s best. We never saw Kemp’s best in SD. Renfroe is also tied for the league lead in OF assists so he is cutting down runners too. Myers is hands down the best player on the team. 40 HR a year is not out of the question for any season and 30 is pretty much a guarantee. Margot is good at the plate and great in the field. Cordoba is the real deal at the plate. He has been shortstop up until he hit the majors, but if he ends up being a utility player or our LF that is fine, because he is going to hit .280 plus every year and maybe much better. Solarte is really fun to watch, especially now that Green is starting him in front of Myers in the batting order. That is where he belongs, not in the cleanup. He is not a power hitter, but he makes great contact and will keep pitchers honest with the power he does have.
Have you watched Renfroe play the outfield? The reason why he has so many assists is because he misplays balls so regularly that runners are always trying to take the extra base. Remember, Manny Ramirez – who was a truly terrible outfielder – once led the AL in outfield assists. Renfroe has a great arm but he can’t read the ball off the bat and just has bad hands. But I think he is fun to watch at the plate. I agree with what you say about Cordoba; he’s definitely intriguing. He can’t play short but that’s okay. The Padres have given up on having a real shortstop for like ten years now.
Solarte is just a really average player and he’s just old enough that there’s no reason he shouldn’t be traded for whatever return the team can get. He won’t be part of the next good Padres team.
I don’t see 40 homers from Myers, not in Petco and there’s two other tough parks for homers in the NL West, but 30 seems reasonable. I don’t quite understand what he’s doing on the basepaths these days – that caught stealing last night was incomprehensible. Making the third out trying to steal third base? What the heck? With two outs and on second base, he’s going to score on any hit anyway. And that 11/55 BB/K is concerning.
Cahill looks good but shoulder injuries are scary. Hand is good, but he should be moved ASAP, in my opinion.
Myers trying to steal at all is joke caught stealing 3 times with 4 successful
These comments are really getting out of Hand!
Luis Mateo and Gavin Cecchini from the Mets enough?
That would hinge on the Mets and if they believe adding a left handed reliever and giving up top prospects is a good decision when they currently sit at 19-25.
I don’t see the Mets being buyers; they’re just not a real contender in the East or for the WC.
Likewise. They need to get healthy and stay healthy especially in the starting rotation before they commit to giving up key pieces of their farm system for a the luxury of acquiring a reliever
It’s pretty crazy – he goes to the Padres, picks up a slider (that he now throws 44.4% of the time), and voila – K% doubles, and he’s a hot commodity.
The Padres did the same thing with Pomeranz and his curveball, its a sliver of the money ball approach where you see a sample size of success that isn’t being tapped into enough and you acquire a player and you put that strength to use as much as possible.
is barry foote available for hand? or rollie fingers? elroy face?
I am shocked that we are 51 comments into a thread about an available relief pitcher and not 1 mention of the Nationals yet.
Possibly because they only have 2 highly regarded prospects remaining after the Eaton trade and you have to figure that Robles is to much for Hand and Feede probably won’t be enough. So I think the reason why no parallel has been drawn to WSH is because they don’t really have what SD needs.
I think Fedde, Kieboom, Read, and Voth would get a hand deal done. Padres could find a better deal, but they do have players the padres coule use.
Why would the Nationals do that?
Why did they do the Eaton deal? Same reason they dealt for Eaton. They’re in a win now mode this year and next year before they lose Harper to free agency after next season.
Their one weakness has been their bullpen. They need bullpen help. If you want one of the top relievers on the market, who comes with 2+ years of team control, it will cost them.
They got an outfielder with 12 WAR the past three years on a cheap contract. And they traded guys who they were lower on than the industry. It should tell you a lot of what they thought of Lopez/Giolito if they were willing to trade them. And both have scuffled this year in AAA, Giolito especially. The Padres can keep Hand if they’re asking anything remotely close to those 4 for someone with a track record and recent workload of Hand’s.
In what world has Reynaldo Lopez “scuffled” this year? He’s had 1 really bad start all year and has a sub-3 ERA… He has given up 10 runs in his last 40.2 innings (6 in his first 8.1). He has been very good this year.
Dunning was also killing it before being moved up a level.
I’ll give you Giolito though. He has looked bad, which was kind of expected I think… He did just pitch a no-no in a 7 inning game last night though. Hopefully he’s starting to figure it out, but I don’t know.
Nats have the worst bullpen in baseball this season.
How about the Yankees? Wonder what they’d offer/be willing to give for the lefty
Jorge Mateo would be more than enough to get Preller to listen.
They would basically be re-creating last year’s 3 headed monster of Miller, Betances and Chapman but replacing Miller with Hand who are carbon copies of each other, failed starters who pitch in high leverage situations with absolutely filthy wipe-out stuff.
Except Andrew Miller doesn’t walk anybody, and Hand walks a lot of guys. Other than that, they both pitch left-handed and can go multiple innings, so there’s that…
And Miller’s track record is pretty extensive.
Andrew Miller doesn’t walk anybody
Except in 2012 4.46 BB/9
And in 2013 4.99 BB/9
And in 2015 2.95 BB/9
fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6785&posit…
So, there’s that.
And in 2016 1.1/9. And in 2017 1.9/9. I’ll take the current stats over what he was doing in 2012 as a busted starter.
Nothing like cherry picking…
Nothing like cherry picking…
Ok, well you just disproved your own argument then.
Brad Hand was functioning as a busted starter when the padres claimed last year. Last year was his 1st year as a full time reliever. Just like 2012 was Miller’s 1st time as a full time reliever.
Miller’s 1st 2 years as a full time reliever he struggled with walks and eventually righted that ship. No reason to think Hand can’t correct his BB/9 issues like Miller did.
But we’re comparing these two pitchers on what they’re doing right now, correct? Right now Hand doesn’t have nearly the control of Miller. He looked shaky the last two nights in his save opportunities, too. That slider is good, but he throws it in the dirt a lot.
After reading everyone’s opinion on what they think of hand, I figured to include an article published by fangraphs. It’s worth a read and really puts facts to hands dominance. It’s ironic, to me at least, that they guy he compares to the most took the same road to success that hand has. Miller was a bust starter that jumped around, and has now developed into what he is now.
fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/the-closest-thing-…
So for what it’s worth, I think hand is worth what the Indians gave up to the Yankees for Andrew miller. The problem is the Padres are a west coast team that get little to no national air time, and play too late for east coast people to watch.
I thought about how miller came from Miami as a starter too but people get butthurt when you compare players. I think its a good comparison of their career trajectories.
Don’t forget about that Trevor Hoffman guy either who was a failed Flordia Marlins project at the time who was casted off to San Diego and as they like to say, the rest is history.
So, hey Carter Capps get healthy because if history decides to repeat itself again you are in good company sir.
What does “butthurt” mean? I see it often on these comment sections. Just curious.
Sure, that’s a great comparison if you want to completely ignore how much better Miller is/was for a much longer period of time before getting traded to the Indians… Try looking a little further than ERA…
I’m pretty sure people in baseball know all about him. They have scouts and such. Most relievers busted as starters, usually in the minors, but occasionally at the major league level. Usually because they lacked a third pitch or had bad command or injury issues. Somebody mentioned Trevor Hoffman up there and he just never developed a third pitch. Mariano Rivera spent one season with the Yanks as a starter but wasn’t very good, mostly because he was a two-pitch pitcher.
I’ve been thinking about this, Mr. Hand. If I’m here and you’re here, doesn’t that make it our time? Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with a little feast on our time.
That was my skull!
Olney is such a moron. I have learned over the years that he only writes about the most obvious things or things that are sensational but usually wrong. Ignoring him is usually the best thing to do. So many better and more reliable sources of real baseball news.
Every serious baseball fan knows the Padres will be in the market to trade at the deadline. They are not “open for business”, they are simply maximizing their leverage in a rebuild by trading valuable players who will not be under team control in their 2019-2022 window for contention. Because he has been very good on the mound, Hand is the most valuable piece they have to trade. Others that have also been good and who will probably be traded are Maurer, Buchter and Cahill once he returns from his injury. A few other pieces like Schimpf, if he recovers to be hitting at least .200 by early July, and possibly some of their huge pool of prospects, will be moved by the deadline to fill in their most pressing areas of need. Namely shortstop and starting pitching.
A young team like the Padres will want players in return that are MLB ready and with 3-5 years of control so they can be part of their rebuilding process through 2020-2022, the years they are most likely to be in the hunt for a playoff spot and the years they have guys like Myers under contract.
I don’t really understand what you mean by the padres are not “open for business”… its pretty clear that they would trade anyone at any time if it brought back the value that they want. If you want to be mad at Olney for stating the obvious thats your prerogative, but it seems like he was just reporting the fact that Preller has been letting other organizations know he’s “open for business” or willing to make a deal whenever as long as the return is there.
If you’re trying to say that they’re going to wait until the deadline to be “open for business” then I don’t think I agree. They traded Shields last year in early June, Rodney in late June, and Pomeranz in the middle of July. It seems Preller doesn’t feel the need to wait until July 31, he’s willing to trade early to try to jump out in front of the market.
Preller isn’t going to trade just anyone. He is only going to move pieces that are A – valuable in trade and B – are not part of the long-term plan to contend 2019-2022. A top 100 prospect that is a MLB ready SS or SP with 6 years of team control hitting their peak in those years plus some ancillary prospects is worth more than 2.5 years of Hand.
Joining him on the trading block from the pen are Buchter who is 29 and much more valuable to a contending team in 2017 than he will be when we contend, and Maurer if he pitches well over the next 1.5 months.
If Cahill comes back strong, we will probably see him traded too.
Even if just Hand and Cahill are traded by the deadline we will get a couple of MLB ready top 100 prospects and 2-3 other prospects to add to our already ridiculously deep farm system.
and just think, olney makes you pay to read some of his crap
Not me. Would never pay to read anyone on ESPN.
Nice position for SD. They should def get a team to overpay….sooner than later.
As a Met fan, having watched Hand pitch for both the Marlins, and now record two of the sloppiest saves in recent memory (and I’ve watched plenty of Familia’s recent saves!), good luck to any team sending above average prospects to the Padres for this guy.
Let’s make him a Giant!! We are very low on LH relief (1)!!!