San Diego Padres Trade Rumors: Brad Hand Draws Interest on Trade Market
Major League Baseball's bottom-feeding teams are usually very busy in the lead-up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. There are always veteran players to trade, prospects to acquire and contracts to unload.
Well, the San Diego Padres happen to have one of the worse records in the National League, but they are not expected to make any major moves since they don't have many assets to sell. In any case, they had to remind the rest of the league that they are still open for business.
According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the Padres are putting Brad Hand on the trading block. The San Diego Union-Tribune's Dennis Lin has also reported that they already had preliminary discussions with other clubs regarding Hand.
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"Hand, who has gone from a waiver claim to a dominant reliever, is drawing keen interest around the game. Sources say the Padres have had preliminary dialogue with a number of teams, and rival officials believe Hand could be the first player dealt out of San Diego," Lin stated in his report.
Lin said Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter may draw some interest as well before the trade deadline, but Hand should get most of the attention if he is on the trade market.
The Padres actually claimed Hand off the waivers from the Miami Marlins in April 2016. He has played great for the club so far. In 24 games this season, Hand has posted a 1.93 earned run average, and he managed to strike out 36 batters in 28 innings.
The numbers he has posted and the amount of club control years remaining on his contract should attract a lot of clubs. Hand is earning a modest $1.375 million this season. He won't be arbitration-eligible until 2018 at the earliest, and he will not be eligible for free agency until 2020.
