The Padres are going to play the Hand they were dealt.
Major League Baseball’s trade deadline passed at 1:00 p.m. San Diego time on Monday and despite weeks of speculation about them possibly trading nearly half the roster the Friars made exactly zero moves.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was reliever Brad Hand, an All-Star who was widely regarded as the best left-handed pitcher on the market, was not dealt. The Padres were asking for a large return for Hand and when no other teams met it, General Manager A.J. Preller decided to hang on to his new closer. But it was not for lack of other teams trying to get their hands on Hand.
“In the two years he’s been here he’s the player we’ve had the most phone calls on with teams checking in and expressing interest,” said Preller on Monday after the deadline passed. “I feel like 15 teams or so have checked in on Brad over the course of the last couple of weeks.”
That list was whittled down to four or five teams in the end who got to the point of actually exchanging names that might be included in a deal. None of the proposed packages met the asking price.
“I think there was no rush for us to reach out and do anything,” said Preller. “If we got to a point that I was able to go to ownership and go to our fan base and find a player or a group of players that definitely bring more value than an All-Star-caliber reliever then that’s something we’re going to examine. But anything short of that, from our standpoint we’re very content moving forward with Brad.”
Two of the things that make Hand so valuable are his age and contract status. He is under team control until through 2019 and for a guy as effective as he is, his sub-$1.5 million deal is an absolute bargain. But not making a deal now does not mean the Padres will not re-open trade discussions after this season, something NBC 7’s Derek Togerson and Padres broadcaster Bob Scanlan discussed on SportsWrap:
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Hand is not the only player the Padres were talking about dealing. Starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin and infielder Yangervis Solarte, who was a strong trade candidate before missing several games with an oblique injury, also had teams calling about their availability.
So the only deal the Padres made during the 2017 season (prior to the deadline) was the one that sent pitchers Trevor Cahill, Ryan Buchter and Brandon Maurer to Kansas City for pitchers Travis Wood and Matt Strahm and young infield prospect Esteury Ruiz.
The month of August still offers the possibility of a waiver wire trade so if a contender suffers an injury and gets desperate for an elite bullpen arm Hand may find his way out of town.
