The Blue Jays are designating reliever Brad Hand for assignment, relays Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Catcher Danny Jansen is being activated from the 10-day injured list in a corresponding move. Hand’s designation also creates a vacancy on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 38.
It’s a rather surprising move, as Toronto acquired Hand from the Nationals the week of the trade deadline. That proved to be a rather significant misstep. The hope was that Hand could serve as a stabilizing force for a Blue Jays’ bullpen that struggled throughout the season’s first half. But his time north of the border proved brief and unproductive, as Hand was tagged for ten runs (seven of them earned) in 8 2/3 innings. He struck out five batters, issued three walks and served up three home runs.
To make matters worse, young catcher Riley Adams — whom the Jays sent to the Nats in exchange for Hand — has been on a tear since landing in Washington. The 25-year-old has hit .341/.442/.568 with a pair of homers in 52 plate appearances. That’s an extraordinarily small sample and public prospect evaluators have long suggested Adams is likelier to wind up a quality backup than a true regular catcher. But swapping Adams for Hand is unquestionably a move the Jays’ front office wishes it had back after just a few weeks.
While Hand’s tenure in Toronto didn’t pan out, he figures to latch on elsewhere rather quickly. Hand broke out upon a move to the bullpen with the Padres in 2016 and remained one of the game’s best late-inning arms up through last season. Over that five-year run, the southpaw posted a 2.70 ERA/2.92 FIP across 320 innings split between San Diego and the Indians.
His results were strong as ever in 2020, when Hand pitched to a 2.05 ERA/2.80 SIERA over 22 frames with Cleveland. He’d seen a worrying dip in velocity, though, and the Indians waived Hand before declining a $10MM club option on his services. That actually worked in his favor financially, as Hand picked up a $1MM buyout before signing a $10.5MM guarantee with Washington upon hitting the market.
Hand’s velocity has bounced back this season, though. After dipping from a 92.7 MPH average four-seam in 2019 to 91.5 MPH last season, the 31-year-old is averaging 93.3 MPH on his heater in 2021 (per Brooks Baseball). His slider velocity hasn’t gotten back to peak levels, although that too is up relative to last season’s mark. And Hand was still fairly productive during his early-season run in Washington, where he posted a 3.59 ERA over 42 2/3 innings.
That’s not to say he was at peak form. Even during his time with the Nationals, Hand’s strikeout rate had dipped from 33.7% last season to 23.1%. His swinging strike rate had dropped from 10.5% to a subpar 7.3%. That declining swing-and-miss was a red flag, but Hand’s track record and continued decent results were enough to attract interest on the trade market just a month ago.
It stands to reason some other club will look past Hand’s terrible past few weeks and give him another look. Claiming him off waivers would require assuming the remainder of his $10.5MM salary (approximately $1.9MM). That might prove too pricey given Hand’s recent struggles, but any team that signs him after he clears waivers would only have to pay the prorated portion of the league minimum while leaving the Jays on the hook for the bulk of the remaining money.
A’s now
well now if any team needs a helping hand
Zaidi’s next DFA? Hand could take some of the load off Giants pitching.
Hand could give a giant hand to the Giants…
( Yes, very bad but still… )
It’s obvious the left Hand doesn’t know what the right Hand is doing, but you know the old saying, a bird in the Hand is worth two in the bush BUT on the other Hand, one Hand washes the other, so there is that.
Should we just hand over kudos to you for your list of handy puns?
No. You’ll take the back of my hand and like it.
Hands down you’ve hand-picked the lowest of hanging fruits. We’ll hand you that, until you finally handle this – hands off the puns!
Besides, this pitcher has already made bank hand over fist, so let us have no hand-wringing over Hand.
Think Bradley can lend a hand to AJ Preller in SD, where it’s all hands on deck?
@serge
I knew it was lame as hell when I wrote it but I just couldn’t help myself. Ahahahaha!
I have to hand it to you, as you are good at these. Looks like this move forced your hand, so you can wash your hands of this.. Speaking of this first hand, I would advise, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
More like a Hand on the Birds is worth two in the loss column.
The Jays were dealt a bad Hand
No way. He keeps handing over the lead to the opposition.
does Philly have the tax space to make this move?
They wolnt
Dodgers next stop
Exactly what I thought. They’ve literally been claiming everybody in sight the past few weeks.
He’ll never fall to the Dodgers. He has to pass through the AL and the reverse standings of the NL for that to happen.
Ouch. What did the Jays give up for him?
Catcher Riley Adams
Too much
Just Adams
Riley Adams has .8 offensive WAR since the trade deadline!
And without the trade, Adams would never have gotten the chance to do that and would’ve been DFAed over the winter because there were too many catchers on the 40 man. It’s a big win for Adams, at least a small win for the Nats (big if he keeps it up), but not a significant loss for the Jays.
Ya, pretty much this. If you lose a trade in which the only player you traded barely cracked your top 30 prospects, I’ll take it. Worthwhile gamble that didn’t turn out. I’m just happy they cut their losses so quickly and aren’t letting any more games get away because of it.
I agree smuzqwpdmx HOWEVER it should have been Jansen that got DFAed. Jansen is a terrible catcher that can’t hit and if you go back and look when Jansen is active the other catchers tend to regress (maybe he is a clubhouse cancer?) and the starting pitching overall has not done well with Jansen active. He may not catch all the games but he will get most of the work and the other catchers will regress as in the past the starters will falter………dumb move by the Blue Jays to activate Jansen when another pitcher would have made more sense.
Blue Jays have made Jansen out to be Pudge when he is not even as good as Luke Maile.
Agreed. Toronto just can’t develop a good catcher. They made J.P. Arencibia out to be the next Gary Carter and we all know how that ended. I’m hoping that Kirk will max out at least as good as mid-1980’s Ernie Whitt.
Something. That’s the problem.
Riley Adams but the return should’ve been Danny Jansen, who makes J.P. Arencibia look like Johnny Bench.
Jesus H. Christ above
Jesus Hand Christ?
This could go down as a terrible trade. Adams should at least be a decent backup to Ruiz for the next couple years.
Adams can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. Don’t care how he’s doing or not doing with the Nationals, don’t even care to check. I saw enough from him as a Jay to know he’ll never be an impact player. You can find backup catchers working at IHOP. Won’t hurt the Jays at all.
In 19 games Riley Adams for the Nats has .341/.442/.568. Sure, it’s a small sample size. But it does indicate there’s a chance your post doesn’t know what it’s talking about.
Adams has been a welcome addition to the Nats. BTW, they are also starting to work him out a 1st base.
Theirs definitely a chance I could be wrong, I highly doubt it. Enjoy the 19 games he’s been on, he may never hit over .230 over his career, thats if he stays at the big league level. Which by this time next year he definitely could be in triple a with your nationals. That’s if, if he has options left of course, once again I don’t care.
I’ve seen enough of him to think he’s a 3rd string catcher, forget backup. That’s my opinion. One thing I’ll tell you, he has a better chance of being a career minor leaguer, then a guy who will truly hit at the big league level over the course of a full season.
Lots of teams would love a catcher that can hit .230 lol.
If I’m wrong good for the Nationals, you guys must have one hell of a hitting coach. Whoever he is, he deserves a raise.
The Jays had no room on the 40 man for Adams anyhow. He would have been left unprotected and potentially taken in the rule 5. That said, Hand was atrocious as a Jay. It was a bad trade just because Hand pitched for them.
Weird. I know @Mario93 is against it, but I checked Riley Adams’ stats, and he never hit below .239 at any level in the Toronto system, and in fact was usually hitting around 30% better than league average by wRC+ (except for his career low wRC+ of 110 in High-A in 2018, which was followed the next year by a 173 wRC+ in High-A in 2019).
Maybe he hits worse if you see him in person?
Oh my, I was off by .9 percent. (Off a complete guess).. “league average”, then catchers around the league need to starting hitting something if he’s above league average. Lol. Doesn’t make Adams the second coming of Babe Ruth, just goes to show me and you should get a tryout. Lol.. keep your baseball metrics this time next year please, then come and talk to me. And make sure to do so. My eyes work perfectly, perfectly fine, saw enough of him on tv, to ever pay to see him hit in person.
He’s Bigfork a catcher at 6’4″ and played some 1st in the minors
@Mario93:
There is a 100% chance that you ARE wrong. Even is Riley bats below .100, he still managed to hit something. Falling out of a boat and hitting less that 10% of water is still hitting water
dclivejazz, can you explain the origin of your name? I’m among the seemingly dwindling number of jazz fans and was wondering if there’s a story to be told.
Marlo93 he is still better than Jansen.
I enjoy that this goof is going on about how much he saw of Adams in Toronto to know how he’ll pan out, despite Adams already playing more MLB time with Washington since the deadline. Brilliant stuff.
Don’t call me a goof just because you rely on baseball metrics to see who can play the game and who can’t.. he’s played 11 games as a Jay, it was more then enough for me. He’s played 19 as a National. As the other poster commented, you “goof”,look at his minor league track record. You’re the only goof here who’s arguing for a guy in our system who’s way far down our catching depth chart. It’s my 11 games vs your 19, we’ll see who’s right by next year at this time, “goof”. I think he’s more like the 11 games he’s played with us, then he his the 19 he played with the Nationals. Time will tell all. We had no use for him, don’t worry infractor, he’s not the second coming of Barry Bonds. Calm down.
I love when goofs watch a guy play 11 games and just know he can’t hit. Did you say that about mike trout in his first 11 games? Just stop having opinions. Nobody in baseball that’s intelligent whatsoever makes talent evaluations off of 11 games.
“Internet scout admits he hasn’t bothered to watch player past his first 11 games, has strong opinion and 14 posts about it anyway”.
Thanks Marlo93. Don’t forget to clock in your hours at the door on your way out. One day, someone will pay for your insight. Not today, though.
Here’s a quote to show just how useless Mario93s take is…
Context: a player going into his 11th mlb game with the blue jays:
“Yet it just hasn’t materialized. He is currently hitting .162 with zero home runs and just one RBI. He also has just one extra base hit, which happened in his MLB debut, and just six hits in total, along with striking out 11 times and walking only four.”
The player: Vlad JR.
So, just be glad true mlb scouts don’t use the mario93 evaluation technique. The sport would be worse for it.
Based on that I’d send Vlad down
Einstein, you’re comparing one of the best hitting prospects in vlad jr, son of a hall of famer, to a catcher who was rated 5th in the farm for the Jays. Nice try, but no….
Yes, goof you most certainly can when you looked as horrendous as Adams did in those 11 games. Be a realist, don’t fall in love with 3rd string catchers, when we have an army of catchers with way more upside. Jays didn’t just have him for just 11 games, small brained goof, they had him in their farm system for quite awhile. Clearly common sense and you don’t get along. Goof. Go become a Nats fan and go cry over a 3rd string catcher because a 19 game stretch. Or be like the other Einstein on here, and compare him to Vladdy jr. lol. You guys are ridiculous… lol . Like I said small brained goof, talk to me next year …. If you can’t do that, take your name calling to the daycare centre where your fellow 5 year old friends will think you’re cool. Better yet go get your self a nationals Adams jersey, see it’s worth by this time next year.
@iverbure, how in gods name do you compare a backup catcher to a guy who was ranked as the best hitting prospect of all time …. Yet you call me the “goof”. This is why some of you shouldn’t even be into sports… Justify complete trash for guys in our farm who weren’t even ranked as a top prospect. Are you out of your mind goof, or are you mistaken baseball with golf or something ? The fact some of you compare the flaws of Vladdy jr when he first came up, to a freakin 3rd string catcher goes to show YOU should stop giving your opinion. You real goof. Who am I arguing with …. Which one of you goofs compared him to mike trout as well? Lol… my god. Unbelievably embarrassing….
He had 30 plate appearances as a Jay…
this trade is already a loss. they traded something and got nothing.
Toronto had to trade a Catcher.
It already has
Hand got the hand, oh man
Bring back the sticky!
Hand got the hand, oh man
not so handy after all
Based on 8 innings of work???
He’s been awful since June
He’s played in 11 games for the Jays. He’s allowed an earned run in only 3 of those 11 appearances. I hardly call that awful. Definitely not a good reason in that small sample size to just give up on him – especially with his track record of success. He was an effective closer earlier this year. But whatever. Not like I care about the Jays anyhow.
He had a 7 era in July also
Yet the Jays traded a good prospect for him anyhow with full knowledge of those July numbers. Like I said, they changed their mind about him entirely based upon an 8.2 inning sample size.
Pretty sure he allowed inherited runs in other outings. I was watching and he was awful.
If you don’t get anybody out, you don’t accumulate any innings. 41 batters faced is the more relevant number.
There’s a month of season left and then Hand would be a free agent anyway. If they don’t trust him to pitch important games in September, they need that roster spot for somebody else — can’t afford to wait for Hand to regain his form.
Wasn’t everyone ready to hand the Jays the division after acquiring Hand and Berrios?
I don’t think a single person was, no.
Not me. A lot of the RS haters did, but they have issues with every trade. If we trade for them, they stink. If we don’t trade for them, they are future HOFers.
My main issue with the Berrios trade is that TO didn’t have a high-enough likelihood of making the playoffs. The Berrios trade is something you do if you think you have a fair shot at the WS. TO is in a virtual tie with Seattle, and behind the RS and As. If they miss the playoffs, then they traded their top two prospects for on year of a very good, but not great Berrios.
Only one thing Joe, they were not the Jays top 2 prospects. SWR had fallen from 4th-5th to 8 or 9th.
Agreed Joe Brady.. Austin Martin could’ve been playing 3B or 2B next year for the Jays. SWR could’ve been the next Noah type of pitcher.. who knows. They both are highly ranked prospects for a reason .. trading both hurts them in the long run if they don’t make the playoffs next year.
Both guys could’ve held down key roles on the team very cheap.. Jays weren’t ready to win the World Series this year, and aren’t making the playoffs.
Add the fact that they’re going to have to resign Semien, and Ray, by trading for Berrios.. or what was the point to even bring on Berrios, add on one end subtract on the other ? While giving away legit prospects who were under control for cheap!
Makes no sense.. And will hurt the payroll by wanting to compete too fast. Now they’re forced to be winners whether they’re ready to win big or not. And if this is the path this front office is taking, I would’ve rather have Anthopoulos over these guys any day of the week.
Nope, and they grossly overpaid to get Berrios.
Yes. That will turn into Michael Young for Esteban Loaiza all over again.
Which is amazing the way that turned out since Texas was willing to take a bag of half eaten sun flower seeds to get rid of Loaiza
What division do you think the Jays play in?
as an indians fan this doesn’t surprised me. almost every appearance he made was a white knuckler
Tribe fan here, Hand was a heartbreaker in Cleveland and blew a lot of games in the last full season.
Pretty much true of every closer. Never room for error.
This might be the first time I ever remember a guy getting DFA’d while he’s on the bereavement list.
That’s A little cold released on bereavement
Gives him a chance to latch on with a contender and be eligible for postseason, but he’s only got until midnight. Super small window.
I gather it hasn’t happened and time & $ were against it. Whoever claimed him immediately would’ve been on the hook for his full remaining contract. For the chance that he flips the script on his recent production, it isn’t worth more than the minimum. The Mets got a decent end of season find for the minimum in Heath Hembree. It would be truly ironic for the Mets to play completely out of their minds the rest of the way and take the second wildcard from the Reds.
As if he didn’t have enough sadness already.
Several teams will take a “Hand-out” on this guy.
Surprised Dodgers haven’t taken him yet
By tomorrow
Believe me, expect that announcement within the hour.
All of those teams that ” mysteriously” passed on him over the winter were not wrong.
It would be a mild understatement to say that his stock has fallen a bit in the last year or so.
Bad peripheral numbers despite decent pitching stats in 2020. It’s an interesting example of how player evaluation has changed.
yeah, except the team that got a good young C for him
It was because of collusion why hand was released and nobody claimed him!!!
And that uld be me. I thought he’d be a really good fit with the RS, with Barnes setting him up. Hand’s stats with the Indians in his final 20 appearances were almost flawless. 19.2 IPs, 25/3 K/W, 10 hits, -0- HRs.
His ERA was 0.46, but it could easily have been 0.00 with those numbers.
The Blue Jays bullpen will definitely be short handed now
nice
Get him Preller!
Claim him, Astros.
Sox need him so bad right now
White or Red?
White or Red. Lifetime ban on Rose.
My God, what a fall from grace…
I swear, if I see one more pun someone is going to catch these hands
Hand
Cashman pick him up.
Nah.
Joely & Luetge, even Peralta are better LH relievers. No room for him.
Mr. Hand knew something was up when he was called to the office and Jeff Spicoli was waiting to talk to him.
“So long, Mr. Hand. You dick.”
Javy Baez flips the script. What an ending.
It was a difficult decision to make, but the Blue Jays did it… you have to Hand it to them.
Giants by the end of the weekend….
Maybe Riley Adams was scared they would close the border and he’d be stuck in Canada forever. Now he can relax.
Yes because USA is the best country in the world. Where they rush the White House, place the mentally ill every 4 years as your “presidents”, defund the police, and your news outlets has more fake drama than an episode of South Park. On top of that, the great US makes you pay to go to a hospital. Awesome place to be for sure.
Relax bro, I watch Letterkenny.
On top of that, the great US makes you pay to go to a hospital.
=========================================
Not for nothing, but the US underwrote Canada’s Covid program. How many millions of Covid vaccinations did we send to you guys? What did you nationalized health care do for you? If not for us, everyone in Canada would have Covid by now.
Are you suggesting that if everyone that got vaccinated would not have got COVID or SARS2? Then you need to get educated. I suggest reading about what the vaccine is and how it does not make you immune to the virus BUT it does give you a chance to get less sick….varries depending on the brand you get. This info is available on many sites about the vaccine including the CDC’s website.
Don’t spread misinformation the media and Canadian government does enough of that.
You didn’t underwrite anything. And vaccines have nothing to do with national healthcare. It’s all about domestic production. You loaned Canada vaccines that were approved here but not there. In other words, you loaned us milk that would have gone bad before you were allowed to drink it.
Now if anyone wanted to make a real
Argument for players not wanting to play in Canada, it certainly is a valid argument. Simply going through customs every two weeks is a pain for some people.
Healthcare US versus Canada. In Canada you get a $100,000 heart surgery for free but your relatives have to pay to park when they visit.
In the US you pay 100,000 for heart surgery but hospital parking is free.
MagRupe
you loaned us milk that would have gone bad before you were allowed to drink it.
=========================================
Sure, we ordered twice as much as we needed. The more important question is, why didn’t Canada order twice as much as they needed?
TigerFan1968
Healthcare US versus Canada. In Canada you get a $100,000 heart surgery for free
=============================
Actually nothing is ever free. Canada chooses too cover everyone’s medical thru taxes. The US largely relies on private businesses to cover the medical. The biggest difference between the two is whether you have private coverage. I have good coverage, so my waiting time is minimal for almost anything.
My boss at a previous job was Canadian. He had leukemia growing up and had to go to the US to have it treated. Later, his grandson tore his knee up playing hockey. After being told it was a 6-week wait for an MRI, he called up the company owner, who called up a hospital he donated to, and it was done the same day. But when he had the tear operated on, he had that done in the US.
The point being is that nothing is free, and the service you receive is largely related to the cost that you incur.
Joe Brady,
You need to better research a topic before commenting otherwise it makes you look like a poorly informed ignorant Yank . Canada actually ordered the highest number of of Vaccines in the world per Capita. A number of countries complained about it actually. The US donated a couple million doses of Astra Zenica which they had not approved while Canada was waiting for a increase of deliveries from Pfizer in Belgium . ( Note- The Canadians negotiated to take deliveries from Pfizer’s Belgium factory because they did not trust the Americans under Trump to allow delivery from their Michigan plant – Great Neighbors and Allies we were ) )
Yup, that’s the same logic that democratic leaders were using when they refused to take shots while Trump was president. I’m not sure how well that narrative has played out.
It’s actual fact. Don’t be so lazy and go read . Canada ordered enough vaccine to cover 4-5 x their population and they were getting their Pfizer from the factory in Belgium rather then right across the border in Michigan. Sorry that the truth does not support your narrative. Best keep your comments to something you might actually know something about.
it was a joke …OK…
I am Canadian but a Tiger fan… Now Canada just did not have a plant that could manufacture this vaccine. That is our fault and I hope the current prime minister will be tossed in the Sept election partly for this. I am not even sure if we make our own hockey pucks. . (In Canada the same leader can run for office forever until they are tossed out.).
Canada ordered from Belgium, U.S. everyone. The U.S. rightly kept their initial supply for their own citizens and Canada knew they were unlikely to get early doses from the U.S.
Our health care is excellent but Covid has damaged it just like the U.S. and everywhere else. Canadians do get the jab at a much higher rate than the U.S. pretty well everywhere but Alberta and Saskatchewan (think Texas …cowboy country OK.)
Dual citizen here, so you are blaming JT for the vaccine manufacturing capability being sold off to multinationals by Mulroney in the late 80’s . Interesting
he must not have put /j at the end like he should have
thanks I will do that … /j is short for joke… thanks… I have noticed that all my other attempts at humor have been taken seriously…
A bird in the hand is worth two in the quackenbush…. No? I’ll see myself out.
don’t you mean byrd? #marlon
Huh?
Brad Hand deserves lots of chances to find his stuff. Danny Jansen isn’t going to matter balance of year.
Wow, I don’t get this at all. Especially giving up Adams whom I liked as an elite prospect.
Strange days in the Toronto BlueJays Mgmt and front office. I would have fired Montoyo before designating Brad Hand.
Rolls eyez
I can see the Angels claiming him
Cleveland is good at dumping pitchers at the right time. Kluber,, clevenger, Carraco, now hand. That’s about 40 million of bad contracts they avoided
Now now let’s not look at facts and results. Instead let’s look up the comments on these posts.
Can’t say that I’m surprised or shocked. Whenever Hand came into pitch for Cleveland, he always made me nervous. I’m sure he’ll find a home in the minors somewhere.
Some of you are calling someone who was 5th on the Jays’ catching depth chart an “elite prospect”. Come on. He may be the next Yan Gomes or he may never been seen from again after this year. Either way, you can’t criticize the Jays for changing their mind on such a small sample size while you bask in the glory of confirming your own opinion based on an equally small sample size.
Point is; Jays are running out of time and hand hasn’t helped. He has hurt. Pearson and Merryweather are coming and I know who I’d cut to get them up here.
I actually liked Yan Gomes. You can tell a lot by a batting stance, bat speed, the pitches they can handle the ones they can’t. How they control the strike zone, how they play defense, how they frame a pitch. Some people don’t know what they’re watching, they to run to computers to tell them who’s a good baseball player and who’s bad.
I despised Arencibia, probably the worst defensive catcher I’ve ever seen in my life. He would literally take strikes out of the strike zone .. horrendous pitch framer. The Jays fans loved him, because he would run into a home run once in a blue moon, and I’m guessing he was another above the “league average” guy when compared to the worst hitting position player in baseball. Catchers of course. He’s been out of the league since when ? Please ..
But yeah, I truly liked Yan Gomes. Now to me, he was a guy who definitely deserved more time with the Jays. We all know how that worked out.
Adams is far, far from special. And he’s certainly no Yan Gomes. So many pitches Adams would swing air at while as a Jay. 11 games was more then enough for me. It really was. I truly saw enough.
It was one pretend scout here who labeled Adam’s as elite prospect.
Lol.. this team first cut payamps now Hand after trading for him. This decision making is the reason for failure. Yalls GM will be to blame this year. Jay’s have performed well overall
I wonder when we will hear from all the RS haters who thought we blew the playoffs by not trading for Hand.
Thinking the same thing. And it looks like the Shamrocks cut the worst pitcher in the league in order to active Janssen, the worst hitter in the league. LOL!
Jays don’t seem to know when they have a good catcher – they also traded Yan Gomes who became an all-star and the Jays landed the household name in Esmil Rogers who was out of baseball by age 29.
Out of baseball by age 29? Shows how much you know, he’s currently playing for CTBC Brothers which is a professional baseball team in Taiwan.
Yes. The Jays haven’t developed a decent catcher since Pat Borders.
True. Unless you consider Carlos Delgado a Catcher…
Deadline deals rarely work out as expected for the teams acquiring the rentals.
Especially when it comes to relief pitchers because of how they fluctuate. All it takes is a shaky outing or two to make the guy a bad pickup.
Bingo
His (sticky?) curveball is gone for one.
You don’t get dumped from a team that is begging for bullpen help, traded a good prospect and took on a few million if you are not damaged in some way.
It’s a shame but he was really really bad in every situation he was put in.
Be interesting to know what else is going on with him
Teams have 4 hours and 49 minutes to claim him or he isn’t on the postseason roster
It could be a nail-biter.
Why would they keep Thorton over Hand, doesn’t make much sense
Thornton has performed better than Hand (granted, Hand has set the bar really low).
Why do posters here not understand control. I’d love some of these people GMing teams for a day.
How about options remaining and 3 more years of control?
Hand and Jansen should’ve been designated together.
Please Marlins, offer Anthony Bass for him. And take on the remaining salary.
No waiver wire deals anymore, but they could’ve claimed him for his remaining salary if they wanted. However, there was no point in doing that. He’s no longer eligible for the postseason barring something that happened late last night that wasn’t reported. If he wants to return to the place he started his career to play out the season for the Marlins for the minimum while the Jays pay the rest of his contract, he could do that. If he wants to play for the team where he grew up – the Twins – he could do that. If he wants to play for the team near where he went to college – the Diamondbacks – he could do that. It’s unlikely any contending team would grab a struggling pitcher who, even if he turned it around, couldn’t play in the postseason.
At this point, it’s a smart move by the Jays to temp a contender.
The Hand deal was guaranteed to go south immediately. Really surprised the Jays made it. There had to be better relief options out there, especially when dealing a prospect.
I can’t handle any more Hand puns
He’d be ineligible to pitch in the post season for another team, so the best move for him would be to accept the assignment, and hope the blue jays can make it there while he gets straightened out in triple A. Not a terribly likely scenario at this point, obviously.
Sad when pitchers with control like Richard Rodriguez were also available at the trade deadline, not to mention far better rentals than Brad Hand, including Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin, Mychal Givens and Yimi Garcia. The bullpen has been the Achilles heel of this team all season.
Somehow, he was fall in the Dodgers lap. They haven’t claimed anyone today.
Hand’s Numbers, other than K’s, aren’t horribly dissimilar to Kimbrel’s since Aug 1st.
Hans couldn’t do the job!
Oh man baseball gods please place him in Atlanta. He’s not done, just needs an adjustment to his head.
Screams spider tac gem
Hope Rogers , the owners of the Blue Jays send these ex Cleveland Indians (Guardians) executives packing. Another couple of million gone on Bradley. Sacre Blu (Dam). As far as Riley , Kirk looks like he can hit and catch especially if he loses a stone (14 pounds) but how will we find out when he shares time with Janssen (Mr. Magoo) and McGuire. Jays are the only team with three catchers on their roster in September.
Phillies
If Hand was ambidextrous he could use his other hand, then he’d be double-handed Hand, or left and right handed Hand.
They DFA Brad Hand, but they kept John foot.
Sounds like an appealing pick-up for a bounceback, but then you look at his numbers…nah. Contender’s can’t take that risk.
Hand needs a Job
I know Adams wasn’t a top prospect but to trade him for a 5 week rental of Brad Hand???????? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. This is getting out of Hand!
The issue I had was that Hand was awful before he was traded. In his final 6 games, he had a 11.12 ERA, with a 6/6 K/W. Actually, past his first 9 appearances, he was pretty pedestrian.
Aloha, Mr. Hand
Twins! Hometown guy maybe a shot to redeem himself
This is one Hand without a job.