Brad Hand to Indians
- Thread starter jon abbey
- Start date
It really is surprising to me that during a time where there are great relievers around baseball and virtually no catching, you trade a potential catcher
You mean for San Diego, right?
This is a world class fleecing for Cleveland. Will Myers trade was better than this.
Yea, though Cle becomes immediately better with their disaster of a bullpen.
I get that Austin Hedges is a great defender, but the upgrade from his noodle bat to Mejia's should be immense. I like the move for SD.
I'm not thrilled with the price Cleveland paid, but it's what I was prepared for. Sure, relievers are relatively unreliable, but the Padres' return relies entirely on a minor league catcher whose offense is very dependent on batting average. I've always wondered what the real ceiling is for such an undersized catcher in today's game. I've seen Mejia play in Low-A and AA, and I'm 5'10", 180 lbs.... he's definitely not. He's still only 22, so maybe he fills out, but he's not a large framed kid, so I think he's probably reaching his cap on power potential.
The Indians needed to immediately upgrade their bullpen and also hedge against losing both Andrew Miller and Cody Allen this winter. Since they also have to address having no certainty at any outfield position for next year, they had to address one of those areas for now and beyond this month. The majors worst bullpen just added Hand and Cimber, with Miller coming back before the end of the month, and Nick Goody due back in August. Basically, the entire group of setup men they've been using most of the season are now competing for 2-3 open spots. If they can re-sign Allen (or I suppose Miller is a possibility) in the off-season, that should be a playoff bullpen for the foreseeable future.
Yan Gomes is under team control through 2021, and while Roberto Perez couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat, they like him behind the plate, he's Bauer's personal catcher, and he's under control through 2022. Mejia looks to be a major league catcher, but he was probably going to have to hit enough to split time in right field if he was to be a full-time player in Cleveland. I'd hardly call this a fleecing like the Wil Meyers trade. Granted, this is hindsight, but it's 100% a better deal than the Mejia + Yu Chang + Greg Allen for Jonathan Lucroy deal Cleveland agreed to 2 years ago before Lucroy blew it up trying to use the trade as contractual bargaining chip.
EDIT: Mejia got off to a dismal start this year and was battling the Mendoza line a couple months into the season at Columbus, so he is, in fact, tearing up AAA right now.
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The Indians needed to immediately upgrade their bullpen and also hedge against losing both Andrew Miller and Cody Allen this winter. Since they also have to address having no certainty at any outfield position for next year, they had to address one of those areas for now and beyond this month. The majors worst bullpen just added Hand and Cimber, with Miller coming back before the end of the month, and Nick Goody due back in August. Basically, the entire group of setup men they've been using most of the season are now competing for 2-3 open spots. If they can re-sign Allen (or I suppose Miller is a possibility) in the off-season, that should be a playoff bullpen for the foreseeable future.
Yan Gomes is under team control through 2021, and while Roberto Perez couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat, they like him behind the plate, he's Bauer's personal catcher, and he's under control through 2022. Mejia looks to be a major league catcher, but he was probably going to have to hit enough to split time in right field if he was to be a full-time player in Cleveland. I'd hardly call this a fleecing like the Wil Meyers trade. Granted, this is hindsight, but it's 100% a better deal than the Mejia + Yu Chang + Greg Allen for Jonathan Lucroy deal Cleveland agreed to 2 years ago before Lucroy blew it up trying to use the trade as contractual bargaining chip.
EDIT: Mejia got off to a dismal start this year and was battling the Mendoza line a couple months into the season at Columbus, so he is, in fact, tearing up AAA right now.
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His rates are right in line with the last few seasons, granted he was considerably lucky the past 2 seasons and this year's performance is more in line with expected results. His FIP the last 3 years, including 2018: 3.07, 3.03, 3.16.
Yep. They're a middling team in an awful division. Does this have them losing the ALDS 3-1 instead of being swept?
By Month for Mejia
April: .515 OPS, 96 PA, .224 BAbip
May: .592 OPS 89 PA, .232 BAbip
June: 1.193 OPS 104 PA, .506 BAbip
July: .544 OPS, 51 PA, .220 BAbip
Overall .279/.328/.426 on a .318 BAbip. That's a pretty good JBJ impression he has going. Who knows what to think. Add in the fact he's not very good behind the plate, maybe Cleveland just saw him as expendable.
My guess is Cleveland lost faith on Mejia and decided to cash in on him at the perceived top of his market. See, my opinion is SD fleeced CLE for a top prospect by giving up 2 relievers, who while both are good right now, well, let's just say consistency is the major problem with a lot of relievers.
He's still only 22 in AAA, so there were likely to be growing pains. As long as he can stick at C, the Indians will regret this one down the line. And maybe even if he doesn't stick at C (see Santana, Carlos).
He's still only 22 in AAA, so there were likely to be growing pains. As long as he can stick at C, the Indians will regret this one down the line. And maybe even if he doesn't stick at C (see Santana, Carlos).
There is, but they tend to get very overrated just because they are catchers and the scouting reports on their defense seem less accurate.
RF/CF is a mess that still needs to be addressed, but "middling" is a rather harsh description for a team with a rotation of Kluber-Bauer-Clevinger-Carrasco, that will soon have a pen anchored by Miller-Hand-Allen, and is getting historic production from Ramirez and Lindor.
They can't stay in contention through free agency, so they're going to have to trade some prospects to plug holes and keep the window open.
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You are very nice to not cite the 2016 ALDS here for you, so I’ll do it for you. No, the rosters aren’t the same as then, but plenty of overlap.
Yeah. It's the upside bet here that badly (imo) tips the scales for San Diego here. Francisco Mejia's upside is crazy high: this guy could be a great hitter at a position that has almost none. And while there are questions about his receiving skills, that upside extends to his defense: Fangraphs has his throwing arm at 80, I've also seen 70 around but either way it's clearly exceptional. Anybody who can throw that well has the potential to become a strong defensive catcher. J.T. Realmuto demonstrates that receiving skills can be learned.
I'm a big believer in the exponential value of premium talent - a player who has the potential to become a young, cost-controlled allstar is imo worth a significant premium over players who do not, all due respect to Brad Hand.
I'm a big believer in the exponential value of premium talent - a player who has the potential to become a young, cost-controlled allstar is imo worth a significant premium over players who do not, all due respect to Brad Hand.
My initial reaction was that Cleveland got fleeced, but the misgivings about Mejia's defense give me pause. A great-hitting catcher can easily become an average-hitting 1st baseman if he loses the confidence of his pitching staff. Even if his ceiling is Carlos Santana, his value will be greatly diminished if, like Santana, he can't stick behind the dish. Gary Sanchez has a terrific arm as well, but he looks like he'll be a DH within a few years. It will always be a defense-first position. Even generational offensive talents like Piazza were at least serviceable defensively.