Cleveland Indians announced on Thursday that they have acquired All-Star closer Brad Hand and pitcher Adam Cimber from San Diego Padres. This was a badly needed move by the Indians, who looked for a way to fill a hole in their bullpen. Padres also profited from this deal, since they got highly rated catching prospect Francisco Mejia.
We’ve acquired All-Star LHP Brad Hand and RHP Adam Cimber from the Padres for C/OF Francisco Mejia.
Hand is a 2x All-Star with 46 saves and a 2.66 ERA with San Diego in 3 seasons.
Cimber sports a 3.17 ERA in 42 relief appearances this season.#RallyTogether pic.twitter.com/NYzyZhCHGX
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) July 19, 2018
Although Cleveland Indians currently sit at the top of AL Central being 7.5 games ahead of Minnesota Twins, they have a big issue with their bullpen which is ranked second last in MLB in ERA with 5.28. For comparison, in the 2017 season, Indians’ bullpen was ranked first in the entire league in ERA. This significant drop can be attributed to the fact that they failed to resign relievers Joe Smith and Bryan Shaw in the offseason, while the remaining group struggled.
With Brad Hand, the Indians will get an All-Star player who comes with a 2-4 record and 3.05 ERA in 41 games played in 2018 season. Hand will both help the team this year and offer security for the coming seasons since Cody Allen and Andrew Miller become free agents after this season.
Adam Cimber is still a relative unknown since he debuted in MLB this year at age 27, but he was impressive so far having 3.17 ERA.
