Cleveland Indians: Don’t waste Brad Hand’s trade value
By Nick Stevens
Despite the high price tag, the Cleveland Indians should bring back Brand Hand in anticipation of an offseason trade.
Seemingly every conversation surrounding this offseason for the Cleveland Indians has involved shortstop Francisco Lindor. The conversations are sure to intensify as winter approaches, but what to do about Lindor isn’t the only tough decision the Indians will have to make over the coming weeks, or days.
The clock is ticking to make a decision as to whether or not the Cleveland Indians will exercise a $10 million club option on their 2020 American League Reliever of the Year candidate, Brad Hand.
Hand finished the season tied with teammate James Karinchak with a 1.1 Wins Above Replacement value, good for second-best among all bullpen arms in the major leagues.
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The 30-year-old lefty led the league in saves, going a perfect 16-16 in save opportunities, and recorded a 2.05 ERA (1.37 WHIP), a 0.77 WHIP, .163 average against, and a 33.7% strikeout rate to go along with his career-low 4.7% walk rate.
It seems as if Brad Hand has been forecasted to implode for years now, but he continues to find a way to execute late in games. His recent playoff performance may leave a bad taste in the mouths of Cleveland Indians fans, but there’s no denying his impressive success since joining the organization.
He’s been a valuable asset since coming over from the San Diego Padres in 2018, but there’s still plenty of value the Cleveland Indians can squeeze out of Brand Hand via the trade market.
The organization has been very open about its financial situation heading into the offseason. A lack of notable free agent signings and a long list of non-tenders is very likely as the Indians look to shed payroll and find a mix of low-cost options to piece together some sort of viable offense to keep the World Series window open, but Hand’s $10 million option needs to be picked up.
One could also say that between Karinchak and Emmanuel Clase, the Indians have quality options to slide into the closer’s role next season without Hand, so buying him out for $1 million may be financially smart. But using him to upgrade the offense versus just walking away is the better option here.
The Padres were able to acquire once prized catching prospect Francisco Mejia from Cleveland in exchange for Hand back in 2018 and Hand’s value has remained consistent, if not improved. We saw teams pay up for mediocre bullpen arms at the 2020 trade deadline, leading one to believe that moving Hand, or packaging him with another piece, to bring in an offensive weapon should be doable.
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With a deep bullpen and a solid starting rotation led by soon-to-be 2020 Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, the Cleveland Indians aren’t a team about to enter a rebuild, but are still expected to be playoff contenders entering 2021. The choice to pay Brand Hand and wait for right trade offer to help fill in the roster gaps should be an easy choice.