Tag Archives: Brad Hand

Indians drop Game 2 to Blue Jays

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The Indians were not able to take Game 2 against the Blue Jays in Toronto as they fell by a score of 2-1 in extra innings.

Justin Smoak put his mark on the game. Smoak launched a solo home run off of Brad Hand in the bottom of the ninth to force extras. In the 10th Smoak drove in the game winning run as the Blue Jays won 2-1. This was Brad Hand’s second blown save of the season and the first loss for Tyler Olson. Hand has given up a home run in three of the past four outings. This is not a good trend and further amplifies the Indians need for another dependable reliever.

Trevor Bauer got the start and pitched well. Bauer pitched 7.2 innings, allowing three hits, struck out nine while walking three. Trevor Bauer kept Toronto hitless until the bottom of the fifth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a leadoff double. Bauer pitched good enough to earn a win but it was just not meant to be.

The Indians lone run came in the top of the third. Greg Allen reached on a single with two outs in the inning. Allen would steal second with Francisco Lindor at the plate. Lindor would drive in Allen with a single as the Indians took a lead in the third.

Allen and Lindor combined for three of the Indians six hits. The other Cleveland batters with hits were Oscar Mercado, Carlos Santana and Roberto Perez. Mercado went 1-5 while Santana and Perez both went 1-4. Jason Kipnis, Jose Ramirez, Jake Bauers and Mike Freeman went a combined 0-14. This is not necessarily the recipe for success and will need to change if the Indians are going to win Game 3.

The final game of the series takes place Thursday at 7:10 P.M and will not be broadcast on YouTube.

Cleveland Indians are at a crossroads

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The Indians are 5.5 games back in the division and their first series after the All-Star Break could determine if they buy or sell at the deadline.

Earlier this season it seemed inevitable that the Cleveland Indians were going to trade one of their pitchers. The pitchers being Trevor Bauer and Brad Hand. Now that their once double-digit deficit in the division is now down to 5.5 games things are no longer clear. Cleveland is in a position where they have to figure out whether they are buyers or sellers at the deadline. If the team continues to win after the break and make the deficit smaller or even take over the division lead, the decision is easy, buy. If things do not go so well it is time to sell.

Brad Hand

Brad Hand will be of interest to any team looking for a reliever, especially a lefty. Hand has been one of the best closers in baseball and is under team control. This combination theoretically could net the Indians quite the haul on the trade market if Cleveland does sell. Although if the team keeps winning it will be best to keep Hand for this season and revisit the trade talks in the offseason.

Trevor Bauer

One player that could be moved either way is Trevor Bauer. Of course this is dependent on a few factors. Whether or not Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber are even remotely close to returning and the performance of their other pitchers (Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac) continues to be at this high of a level. Cleveland could hypothetically move Bauer and receive players who could impact the playoff push if they play their cards right.

According to the Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney, some feel that Bauer’s value will plummet if the team looks to move him after the season rather than during. This is due to Bauer all but guaranteed to have a high salary in arbitration and the potential for two playoff runs. There is also the uncertainty of whether Bauer will re-sign with whatever team he is with after 2020. All of this factors in to what a team will give up for Bauer.

The Indians will not have a lot of time to make these decisions in regards to their roster, but it is important that they make the right decision. The outcome of each individual game will have a tremendous impact on how the front office will handle the trade deadline.

Indians Hand lead to Royals in ninth

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The Cleveland Indians held a 6-3 lead heading into the ninth inning but a disastrous appearance from Brad Hand has the Royals coming out on top.

Perhaps it is time to give Brad Hand a few days off. Hand was making his fifth appearance in six days and things could not have gone worse. The Indians were up by three runs and a win seemed extremely likely. Unfortunately Hand gave up five consecutive hits including a grand slam to Hunter Dozier as Hand was unable to hold onto the lead in the ninth and the Tribe fell 8-6.. The Indians will now head into the rubber match on Wednesday needing a win to come out on top in the series.

The unfortunate part of the result is that a decent start from Shane Bieber was wasted. Bieber had to work around some baserunners throughout the contest, but only allowed two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work. A third run did score but that was unearned.

Here is some good news for the Indians. Cleveland got home runs from Roberto Perez, Mike Freeman, Tyler Naquin and Carlos Santana. The power surge for the Tribe has been a welcome sight for a team that could not hit their way out of paper bag back in April. In fact only one run did not come via the long ball. Oscar Mercado drove in Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the first. Lindor and Mercado both went 2-5 on the day.

There were only two hitters in the Cleveland lineup who did end up with a hit on Tuesday. Jason Kipnis went 0-3 with a walk and Bobby Bradley was 0-4. This was a rather unwelcome sight for Cleveland. Kipnis has been on fire as of late. Bradley had back-to-back games with RBI doubles to start his career.

The final game of the three game series at home takes place Wednesday at 1:10 P.M.

Unless blown away, Indians should keep Brad Hand

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There are trade rumors about the Cleveland Indians potentially shopping closer Brad Hand but they should hang onto him unless they are blown away with an offer.

As each day passes there is another trade rumor about the Cleveland Indians trading Brad Hand. Multiple teams believe that Cleveland will indeed trade Brad Hand this season. Unless they are blown away by an offer Cleveland should keep Hand.

Currently Hand has the most saves in the American League and second-most in all of baseball. Even if the Tribe were looking to move Hand his performance indicates he will not come cheap. Add in the fact that his contract is team friendly and that only makes him more expensive. Hand is under control until 2021, that final year is a $10 million club option. For a player of his caliber with two and a half years of control it will cost a lot to pry him away from Cleveland. Especially considering the reason that the team got Hand in the first place. Control.

Part of the reason that the Indians traded away former top prospect Francisco Mejia is that they could control Brad Hand until 2021. This was necessary due to the inevitable departures of both Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Cleveland still expects to contend (even though this season has not gone to plan) and will continue to construct their team in this particular manner.

The Indians will need quite the bounty to part ways with one of the best available relievers in baseball. Add in the fact that Brad Hand is left handed this only makes his price that much higher. It does not make sense to deal Hand at this time. That is unless they can get the haul he will required. With the belief that the contention window is still open this line of thinking makes the most sense.

Indians have fourth-best bullpen ERA

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The Cleveland Indians bullpen was a conentious topic heading into the season, but this group has performed much better than anticipiated thus far.

After the departures of Cody Allen and Andrew Miller this past offseason many anticipated an absolute dumpster fire in the Cleveland Indians bullpen. However the early returns suggest the complete opposite. Cleveland has the fourth-best bullpen ERA at this point in the season per Baseball Reference.

If fans were polled before the season the overwhelming majority would have voted that the Indians would have one of the worst bullpen ERA’s, not one of the best.

Outstanding appearances from unlikely sources

Cleveland closer Brad Hand leads the Indians bullpen with an ERA of 1.42 in 13 games. Hand has pitched 12.2 innings and has eight saves on the year. Hand has been the dominant arm in the back end of the bullpen that Cleveland needed after Allen and Miller left in free agency.

Tyler Olson is also having a good start to 2019. In 12 appearances Olson has an ERA of 3.38 over eight innings. Olson has taken over the reliable left hander in the Tribe bullpen after the departure of Miller and the early struggles of Oliver Perez.

One of the more surprising starts is that of Dan Otero. The much maligned right hander has an ERA of 1.50 in 10 games. Otero has even been able to pitch more than just one innings as he has pitched in 12 innings total so far.

Newly acquired reliever Nick Wittgren has been a valuable arm for Tito and Co. Wittgren came from Miami this past offseason and is performing above expectations. In seven games Wittgren has an ERA of 0.96 over 9.1 innings. Like Otero, Wittgren has been able to pitch multiple innings for the Indians.

Some of the performances are above the talent level of those who are performing well. There may be some correction in both directions for the Cleveland bullpen. Those who are struggling and those who are pitching well should level out as the season progresses. The Indians bullpen ERA may drop a bit, but it is not in as poor shape as many expected.

Cleveland Indians – Call to the Bullpen

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During spring training there were many questions, concerns, and fan complaints regarding the Indians bullpen. The team had lost reliable and steady set up man Bryan Shaw after the 2017 season. Andrew Miller elected for free agency and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. All time Indians saves leader, Cody Allen, was also a free agent and signed with the Los Angeles Angels. This left the team with a lot of big shoes to fill and the question of who would the Indians bring in to fill them?

According to fan complaints, it appeared that the Indians did nothing in the off season to address their bullpen needs. They did resign LHP Oliver Perez. They did sign Tyler Clippard, Alex Wilson, Justin Grimm, AJ Cole, and James Hoyt to minor league deals and invited them to spring training. These aren’t exactly the top available free agent relief pitchers fans were looking for. Tyler Clippard, who is currently recovering from a spring training injury, has been assigned to AAA Columbus and is working on his recovery there. So the questions remained, who would be in the Indians bullpen when it came time to play real games and what would be the result?

The bullpen surprises in April

Three weeks into the regular season you’ll find one of the most pleasant surprises thus far is the bullpen. Currently the bullpen consists of: Nick Wittgren, Neil Ramirez, Tyler Olson, Dan Otero, Oliver Perez, Adam Cimber, and Brad Hand. Look familiar? Of course it does. Except for Nick Wittgren, every one of these players pitched steadily out of the Cleveland bullpen in 2018. Jon Edwards and Cody Anderson have also made appearances out of the bullpen as well. Currently this squad ranks 3rd in the AL in bullpen stats. Combined they have a 3.42 ERA, 66 strikeouts and a 1.32 WHIP. Thanks to the brilliant starting pitching so far, they have appeared pitched the sixth-fewest innings (68.1).

Last year this same exact squad struggled at times to hold leads, get crucial outs in high leverage situations, and blew saves. What has changed?

Terry Francona about the bullpen:

Manager Terry Francona provides the answers in saying “maybe it wasn’t fair to the guys last year in not necessarily defining their roles.” “When Brad Hand and Adam Cimber came over it was exactly what we thought we needed, fresh arms, a proven closer and another tough lefty in Brad.” “The problem may have been we put them in situations that weren’t consistent with what they knew in San Diego”. “When you looked at our bullpen in August last year, there was Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, and the rest of the squad that had been together the past few seasons. We brought in Oliver in June and he performed amazing. We tried to play matchups, give guys days off and rest as we were preparing for the stretch and post season, and it never really gelled”.

Francona also admitted they didn’t communicate properly with Hand what his role in the bullpen would be and that Cleveland used Cimber differently than San Diego did. “Cimber was a rookie last year when he started with the Padres. Cimber saw time in mid game relief and generally threw full innings. When we acquired him, we thought that with his unique style and with AL teams not having seen him, we could plug him into any situation to get us that crucial out.”

And of Brad Hand, “Brad was excited to be here, ready to compete on a playoff bound team. He knew we had a proven closer in Cody and a high leverage man in Miller. He was willing to pitch whenever and wherever we needed.” “The problem was with him a lefty and Miller a lefty and Hand also being a closer we were asking him to be too much, we were never consistent with him.”

While not an excuse, there are other factors that may have plagued Cimber and Hand in Cleveland last year. A lot of pressure came with being on a contending team. Everyone thought they’d be the saving grace to a lackluster bullpen. However, as they found out, relief pitching in the AL is a lot different than pitching in the NL. Pitching in a playoff atmosphere with high expectations is unlike pitching in laid back San Diego. Even the new climate, time zone, league, and who knows, new food can affect a player. I’ve never been to San Diego but have heard of their famous fish tacos. If those exist in Cleveland, they CAN’T be the same. Cleveland and the Midwest diet is much different from Southern California’s. Culture shock does exist in professional sports.

Brad Hand is the closer

As spring training began in 2019, only one piece of the Indians bullpen puzzle was in place. Early in camp the Indians announced that Brad Hand will be the closer. Everyone else would be competing for a job. The team would look at everyone closely and figure out the proper roles and define who each would be.

Three weeks now into the regular season the bullpen is one of the biggest surprises. With an offense that at times is still struggling at the plate, starting pitching and the relief core has kept this team competitive and winning. Offensive reinforcements are on the way. Jason Kipnis returned to action during the Seattle series. OF Carlos Gonzalez was called up from his conditioning assignment at AAA and is now in the lineup. By Easter Sunday, Francisco Lindor was ready to return. Hopefully these additions will get the offense back into a steady lineup.

This team was expected to have the best starting pitching in MLB. The bullpen was questionable. However, those arms have settled in nicely so far. They are figuring out their roles and getting into a rhythm. They’re stepping into the game for the starters and getting those crucial inning ending outs. They’re holding onto the tie or lead. Closer Brad Hand is doing exactly what the team announced he should be doing, saving games on the back end.

The bullpen still needs definition

As stated, this year’s bullpen squad has figured out who they are. Side armed, submarine style RHP Adam Cimber has matched up against righty batters. LHP’s Oliver Perez and Tyler Olson have matched up against lefty batters. Dan Otero has pitched in middle relief giving a full inning plus when needed. Nick Wittgren, Jon Edwards, Neil Ramirez have all contributed in the later innings. Brad Hand closes. There hasn’t been the traditional 8th inning setup man yet. So far that role has gone to whoever is left in the pen and matches up best with who’s at bat. It could be said that the set up man is the first arm out of the bullpen when the Indians have the lead, regardless of what inning it is.

With the absence of starting pitcher Mike Clevinger for the foreseeable future, the Indians will be making many pitching transactions. Jefry Rodriguez was called up for a start in the recent Kansas City series and he pitched well. With off days on the schedule the Indians sent him back down to AAA. Relief pitchers were called up to bolster the bullpen and the Indians employed an eight man pen. They will most likely use this strategy for awhile. Clevinger’s possible return is August, but is also truly unknown. Until then the Indians will use all options and look for more parts from AAA.

Other experienced relievers are available

The Indians won’t need a 5th starter until April 24th. Currently Cody Anderson is the extra man in the bullpen. AAA Columbus does offer options should the Indians need more arms. Nick Goody is currently in Columbus. He spent 2017 and until an injury occurred, 2018 in the Indians bullpen. AJ Cole, Brooks Pounders, and James Hoyt, while not on the 40 man roster, have MLB experience and their contracts could be selected. Tyler Clippard recently reported to the Clippers. He was in extended spring training in Goodyear, AZ rehabbing through a pectoral muscle injury. He pitched well this spring until that injury. The Indians have him on their radar as he would’ve most likely made the big league club out of spring training.

It’s amazing what bullpens look like and do for their teams year after year. They can go from being the best to worst in a matter of a few games. They can get predictable and figured out by opposing batters. With the only known factor of Brad Hand to close out a game, the Indians bullpen has been everything but predictable. A few months and weeks ago there were questions marks surrounding this part of the team. Now there are exclamation points.

Indians bullpen arms in Arizona

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The Cleveland Indians bullpen had many questions surrounding it in Spring Training, now as time has gone on the situation has become more clear.

The departures of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen left the Cleveland Indians bullpen in a bit of disarray. After multiple moves were made to try and alleviate the issue, the Indians bullpen as a whole appears to be better off than many thought it would be at this point in Spring Training.

Tyler Clippard

Tyler Clippard came aboard this offseason and has performed well this Spring Training. In 2.2 innings Clippard has allowed one hit, one walk and struck out three batters. This is the smallest of sample sizes, but the early returns are encouraging. While Clippard did have to leave a game due to a pectoral strain, the prospects of him making the roster appear to be quite good.

Dan Otero

In five innings in Arizona Dan Otero has only allowed one run. To the surprise of most it did not come via a home run. Otero has become more and more homer prone over the last three seasons. The fact of the matter is that Otero is going to give up home runs, if those can be limited to the solo variety and become less frequent, Otero should be fine in 2019.

Adam Cimber

Adam Cimber is a bit of a wild card. This is directly related to his role as a right-handed specialist. His awkward submarine delivery provides problems for right-handed batters and induces a lot of ground balls. Cimber has allowed one run in 5.1 innings of work so far. Cimber expects to be used quite heavily by the Indians this season as long as the situation calls for it.

Brad Hand

The Cleveland Indians closer for 2019 has done exactly what has been expected of him in Arizona. Brad Hand has pitched four innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out seven. When Cleveland acquired Hand last season this is exactly what they signed up for. High strikeout rate mixed with low hits and walks surrendered. This type of performance will continue into the regular season.

Alex Wilson

Alex Wilson is another pitcher brought in to compete for a bullpen spot. Wilson is performing quite well in Arizona. In 6.1 innings Wilson has allowed two runs on five hits while walking two. Wilson has also struck out five batters this spring. As long as Wilson can continue this type of production Wilson could make an impact this regular season for the Tribe.

Nick Goody

Nick Goody has a sparking 0.00 ERA this spring, but that is where things end. Batters currently have a .308 batting average against Goody in three innings. Again this is a case of small sample size, but the results have not been good. Goody should make the Major League roster, but his leash should be quite short if performances like this continue into the regular season.

Justin Grimm

Justin Grimm has seen 5.1 innings of work this spring and has pitched fairly well. Grimm has allowed one run on five hits while striking seven. Grimm could very be integral to the Indians as a bullpen arm this season. That is as long as he makes the roster and continues to pitch this well.