The Toronto Blue Jays are adding veteran left-hander Brad Hand to their bullpen in an trade that will send catcher Riley Adams to the Washington Nationals, industry sources disclosed to Sportsnet Thursday morning.
The arrangement, which was first detailed by the Washington Post, gives the Blue Jays’ bullpen a three-time top pick who’s presently partaking in one more useful season at age 31. In 42.2 innings for Washington, Hand has a 3.59 ERA with 42 strikeouts contrasted with 18 walks and only 31 hits permitted.
With 126 career saves, including 21 this year, Hand has lots of experience closing out games should the Blue Jays need to utilize him in save circumstances. Truth be told, the last time he was anything but a nearer was 2016, his breakout season with the San Diego Padres.
Notwithstanding how he’s utilized, it’s important that Hand’s peripheral numbers have dropped off this year, with diminishes in strikeout rate from 33.7 percent to 23.1 percent and an increment in walk rate from 4.7 percent to 9.9 percent. Notwithstanding, his normal speed has ticked up since last year and presently sits at 93.1 m.p.h.
The Blue Jays showed some interest in Hand before he marked a one-year, $10.5 million arrangement with Washington in January. Presently, they assume the rest of that compensation, $6.5 million of which is conceded.
Adams, 25, made his MLB debut recently. He has gone through the majority of the year at triple-A, where he’s appearance authentic force en route to a .239/.371/.487 cut line. In any case, with strikeouts in 32% of his at bats and an organizational surplus behind the plate, the Blue Jays considered Adams superfluous.
With Danny Jansen, Reese McGuire and Alejandro Kirk as of now at the MLB level and top possibility Gabriel Moreno ascending through the farm system, the Blue Jays actually have four catchers on their 40-man list.
