The Cleveland Indians shocked the league a bit on Thursday
night when the team acquired not one, but two top relievers from the San Diego
Padres for the low, low price of one of their top prospects in their farm
system. The Indians acquired both closer Brad Hand and his setup man Adam
Cimber from the Padres for their top prospect and one of the top prospects in
all of Major League Baseball in Francisco Mejia. New York had been linked to
Hand in recent weeks with varying degrees of interest, so I always wonder when
a deal is made if the Yankees could have met or exceeded the prospects package
that the receiving team had given up. The closest the Yankees could have come
to matching this deal is if they offered their own top prospect in Estevan
Florial, would you have made the move? Here is whether I would have made the
deal or not if I were the Yankees GM.
Mejia is listed as a catcher and an outfielder on MLB
Pipeline and is the 15th best prospect in all of MLB. Mejia is also the
top catching prospect in all of baseball with experience at both corner
outfield spots and third base as well. Florial, meanwhile, is the 37th
best prospect in the game according to MLB Pipeline and the best prospect in
the Yankees system. While the Yankees may have had to add another piece to
sweeten the pot I truly think these two teams could have come to a deal, and
both Hand and Cimber would have likely been worth the price, even at the cost
of their top prospect.
Hand is on a very team-friendly deal that will keep him in
Cleveland through the 2020 season, a deal that will earn him $3.5 million in
2018, $6.5 million in 2019 and $7.5 million in 2020. Hand also has a team
option for the 2021 season with $10 million with a $1 million buyout. As a
member of the Padres since 2016, Hand has put together a 2.66 ERA, 11.8 K/9,
3.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and a 46.5 percent groundball rate in 213 innings pitched,
albeit inside the spacious Petco Park for his home games. Meanwhile Cimber is a
27-year old set-up man that has pitched to a 3.17 ERA, 9.5 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, and a
52.3 groundball percentage in 48.1 innings pitched with the Padres. Both men
would have been a huge upgrade over Chasen Shreve, or possibly a lot of the
Yankees bullpen right now not named Betances or Chapman. Cimber has held
right-handed batters to a .207/.221/.261 triple slash this season which would
immediately make him the Yankees left-handed specialist going forward if a deal
was to be made.
Cimber and Hand would have been great for the Yankees, and I
truly believe the team could have matched or exceeded the deal the Cleveland
Indians gave San Diego before the end of the All-Star break. Oh well, while
these posts are fun to look at an analyze, unfortunately they do not change a
thing. Cashman, still waiting on you. You’re up.
