Many have reported the deal between the Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres as being a “Hand for Mejia” deal, but there was another piece. Who exactly is Adam Cimber?
On Thursday afternoon, a blockbuster deal between the Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres was reached. The deal sent Padres relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to the maligned Indians bullpen in exchange for top catching prospect Francisco Mejia.
Based on the last couple of years, it did not appear likely a prospect of such high caliber would be moved at the deadline. Then again, the Indians did acquire two excellent relievers not just for this year, but for multiple years. Hand and Mejia are garnering most of the attention for this trade, however, and Cimber is being talked about like he is the thrown in piece, nothing more than an extra cherry.
Make no mistake about it, though, the 27-year-old is decidedly not the “extra cherry,” rather, he may be the cherry on top.
Take these two anonymous and cryptic players, for example. You already are smart enough to deduce who one of these pitchers are but that should not take much away from this exercise. Below, you will have a “Player A” and a “Player B” with 2018 statistics.
- Player A: 48 1/3 IP, 9.50 K/9, 1.86 BB/9, 52.3 GB%, 3.17 ERA, 2.32 FIP and 1.1 fWAR
- Player B: 44 1/3 IP, 13.20 K/9, 3.05 BB/9, 46.9 GB%, 3.05 ERA, 3.17 FIP and 0.7 fWAR
I’ll spare you the drumroll and inform you that “Player A” is Adam Cimber and “Player B” is Brad Hand. Cimber has been better than him in most important statistical categories this season, with the exception of ERA and K/9.
He is not the strikeout pitcher Hand is but has had the leg up in the control and weak-contact department this year. This is his first year in the bigs, so he does not have the track record that Hand does, but he comes with more control, pitching and contract wise.
He has one of the better sinkers in the game of baseball, which he has thrown 75 percent of the time, according to Fangraphs. Despite the heavy usage, batters have been helpless to adjust to it. Against 487 pitches, opposing hitters have churned a weak .221 average and .328 slugging percentage off the two-seamer. The pitch yields a very high rate of groundballs (60.42 GB/BIP) and even gets its fair share of whiffs (22.01 Whiff/Swing).
In fact, among qualified relievers his sinker has the third-highest pitch value (from Fangraphs) among its fellow sinkers. With a 9.8 score, Cimber’s sinker falls behind only T.J McFarland and Jared Hughes.
He complements the pitch with a decent slider that pairs well with the sinker. It generates more whiffs than his sinker, like it should because it is a breaking pitch.
He is a two-pitch pitcher, which noticeably differs from Hand who has four offerings up his sleeve. For Cimber, simple is better and he has been better this year.
Additionally, his submarine-pitching style is extremely fun and should be entertaining to watch all year long. It does not mean much in the way of value but, come on, look at the featured image and tell me that does not have an aesthetic appeal.
Anyway, he never came with a high prospect-pedigree, but such is life as a relief pitcher prospect. The strikeouts were never there, limiting his value and projection. The thing is, though, he never needed them to be there. He ascended through the minors with consistently low ERAs because of his groundball prowess.
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The fact he is now striking out over a batter an inning is a humongous bonus. If he can maintain this level and, there is nothing to suggest on the contrary, well, then he may end up being more valuable than Hand in the short term. I mean, he is anyway because he comes with 5 and 1/2 years of control compared to Hand’s 1 and 1/2.
The Cleveland Indians were worried about losing their star relievers in Andrew Miller and Cody Allen to free agency at the end of this year. Well, they have their new Miller and Allen for this year and beyond.
Plus, while this may be anointed the “Brad Hand trade” right now, when we revisit it in a couple of years, do not be at all surprised if it ends up being referred to as the “Adam Cimber trade.” In a day and age when the two-seamer/sinker is dying, Cimber is having one of the best years in baseball on the back of the pitch. He really is a better pitcher than people give him credit for.
Next: Indians acquire Brad Hand (and Adam Cimber!)
The Cleveland Indians badly need the bullpen help, so anything Adam Cimber can give is a plus, but if he can keep up his first-half work, he’ll be a definite asset.