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All season, Cleveland's weak point has been their enclosure, although this is a much more polite description than the situation deserves. Their relief body was not a weakness like a festering wound, continually putting the whole team in danger. For weeks, the most sure baseball bet of baseball was that they would make a move to strengthen their pen. Now they've finally done it, trading to acquire Brad Hand and Adam Cimber from San Diego. But they paid a high price to do it. In exchange for the pair of lifters, Cleveland dropped 22-year-old receiver and best hope Francisco Mejia.
Cleveland has the most comfortable division head in all baseball, but it's a product of the dreaded Central AL more than that's part of the way this team has played. In other words, their chances of making the playoffs have never really been in jeopardy, but their chances of going away once they get there have a lot going on. Their relief corps is at the heart of this concern. Manager Terry Francona hesitated to call the "pen": Cleveland's lifters have so far launched a record 257 innings, compared to the current baseball average of 338. This number n & # 39; It does not exist in a vacuum, of course; the fact that the rotation of the team is so strong also plays a key role. Still, it's not hard to see why a skipper would be reluctant to turn to this rescue team. Their 5.28 ERA is worse than the other Royals, and their 1.71 innings by nine are by far the highest in baseball.
This is a staggering change from last season, when Cleveland had the best baseball pen. In 2017, they were the only relief corps in the game to score less than 3.00. But they left two pitchers who were integral to this success, Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith, to walk free will this winter. Meanwhile, Andrew Miller has been on the list of injured with knee disease for most of the season, and while he should return soon, he had struggled before his injury. Cody Allen's performance also declined as he posted the worst career figures in almost every significant indicator. (Specifically: in batting outs, marches, home runs, ERA and FIP.) Basically, this pad was desperately in need of an upgrade – and the Hand-Cimber duo is indeed a bet solid level. their greatest strength (no doubt, their only strength) and Hand and Cimber were crucial in this effort. Hand relied on his slider more this season, which allowed him to make up more than half of his throws for the first time, and this change has been successful, making him one of five lifters. National League with a withdrawal of 35% or more, which allowed him to be named All-Star for the second year in a row. Cimber is the lowest profile of the pair, but the dam player shone as a 27-year-old rookie. He walked only 5% of the batters he faced and allowed only two runs in 48 innings. It is also a pleasure for anyone who appreciates funky deliveries:
Lifting assistance is a big boost for Cleveland's 2018, but also for the coming seasons. Miller and Allen will both become independent players this winter, while Hand will retain three years of team control and Cimber five. This move is not only helping them to win right now, it is expanding their window for the future.
What Cleveland made, of course, was another part of their future. When Mejia debuted at the end of last season, Baseball Prospectus called him "the best hope of minors at the time of his call". He is ranked among the top 25 hopes by Baseball America FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline and Prospectus. Although there have been some concerns about his defensive development at the receiver, he has the ability to move to the outside field or third base, and the bat of the punch cutter is a big part of draw here, anyway. It is a remarkable addition to a San Diego farm system that was already one of the best in baseball. The Padres window for the quarrel has not yet opened, but it is getting closer – and when that's the case, Mejia has the potential to be one of the brightest stars among a whole series of exciting young players.
more than any other resource, perpetually in demand at the trade deadline. The deep relief team of the Padres offered them a significant means of pressure, and they used it to land a gem. In this era of hoarding prospects, the best player in any farming system is carefully protected, if not outright considered out of bounds. But Cleveland's gains are enough to restore their greatest weakness, both immediately and in the long run. Meanwhile, San Diego is preparing to be truly formidable in a few years. It has been said that a fair negotiation leaves both parties unhappy, but this one should have the opposite effect.
Indians: A-
Padres: A
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