Sox have interest in Brad Hand

[southsider2k5]

 

[quickman]

Could be a smoke screen but feels like they know Hendricks is not coming here. 

[South Side Hit Men]

The disturbing point I read about this on MLB trade rumors is not the interest in Brad Hand, but the mention of Crochet in a bullpen role. Hopefully it is simply conjecture on the author's part.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Quote

Tony La Russa’s club is well-stocked in southpaws with fast-rising rookie Garrett Crochet coming off a very impressive initial Major League showing, as well as Aaron Bummer, who might be the premier wormkiller in the game. Jace Fry has also been a productive southpaw for the ChiSox with a 4.07 FIP, 29.6 percent strikeout rate, 13.7 percent walk rate, and 51.2 percent groundball rate over the past three seasons. To add Hand to that group may seem gluttonous, but slotting him in as the closer would allow Chicago to continue to use Fry and Bummer situationally while protecting Crochet’s usage.

Unless the Sox state there are known or likely future health issues preventing Crochet to be a Starter, they should be doing everything possible to build him up for that eventuality. Crochet will never be a starter if he doesn't build up significant innings over the next two seasons. He could be a legitimate playoff starter for years.

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

Love me some Hand.. But we would be very LHP heavy in the bullpen for the playoffs with Hand, Bummer and Crochet.. Still the second best option hands down though

[joejoesox]

12 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

The disturbing point I read about this on MLB trade rumors is not the interest in Brad Hand, but the mention of Crochet in a bullpen role. Hopefully it is simply conjecture on the author's part.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Unless the Sox state there are known or likely future health issues preventing Crochet to be a Starter, they should be doing everything possible to build him up for that eventuality. Crochet will never be a starter if he doesn't build up significant innings over the next two seasons. He could be a legitimate playoff starter for years.

Getz said they are grooming him as a starter

 

[steveno89]

1 hour ago, joesaiditstrue said:

Getz said they are grooming him as a starter

 

The smartest thing the organization can do would be to let Crochet develop as a SP in the minor leagues. They can always call him up later in the season to reinforce the bullpen.

[ptatc]

2 hours ago, steveno89 said:

The smartest thing the organization can do would be to let Crochet develop as a SP in the minor leagues. They can always call him up later in the season to reinforce the bullpen.

They can also build his innings in the MLB pen. He needs to get near 100 innings, I would think. He also needs to show he can stay healthy 

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

34 minutes ago, ptatc said:

They can also build his innings in the MLB pen. He needs to get near 100 innings, I would think. He also needs to show he can stay healthy 

Of course he can get to 100 being in the MLB all year thats not the issue.  He could pitch 2 innings each time and get there.  The issue is building his arm up to 5 innings, even if he hits the same inning total.  Wouldn't you agree they're different?

[YourWhatHurts]

I like Hand best as a replacement for Jace Fry with Colome still brought back as a closer.  I bet we could trade Fry and get at least a pizza puff in return.

 

Regular Season:

Colome: 9th inning 3 outs guy

Bummer + Heuer: L/R 6-7-8 inning emergency stoppers; also get 8th inning work

Hand: traditional LHSU/2nd lefty in the pen

Marshall: traditional RHSU/2nd righty in the pen

Foster: first man out / LR / 6th inning guy

Others like Burdi are worked in to develop

 

Playoffs:

Crochet: Our big-time FU type closer

Colome: 8th inning guy / 10th inning guy

Bummer + Heuer: stoppers / win by any means necessary guys

Hand, Marshall, Foster: use as is necessary only

[Jack Parkman]

1 hour ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

Of course he can get to 100 being in the MLB all year thats not the issue.  He could pitch 2 innings each time and get there.  The issue is building his arm up to 5 innings, even if he hits the same inning total.  Wouldn't you agree they're different?

Given how few innings he pitched in 2020 and 2019, this is going to be a 2 year process. He needs to get to 100+ innings any way possible in 2021, and then he can get stretched in 2022. 

[ptatc]

2 hours ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

Of course he can get to 100 being in the MLB all year thats not the issue.  He could pitch 2 innings each time and get there.  The issue is building his arm up to 5 innings, even if he hits the same inning total.  Wouldn't you agree they're different?

They really aren't that different at this time. If he gets to 100 only starting, he will either pitch only every 8th day or end his season very early. In the pen he can pitch the whole season a little at a time. 

Next year is the year he needs to build up consecutive innings so he can pitch 130-150 innings. This year is just getting him increased innings because he's never done that.

[SoxBlanco]

11 minutes ago, ptatc said:

They really aren't that different at this time. If he gets to 100 only starting, he will either pitch only every 8th day or end his season very early. In the pen he can pitch the whole season a little at a time. 

Next year is the year he needs to build up consecutive innings so he can pitch 130-150 innings. This year is just getting him increased innings because he's never done that.

Thanks for your insight. If that’s true, then I’m not sure why anybody would want him to start in the minors.

Curious to hear @Y2Jimmy0’s thoughts, since I know you’ve been wanting him to start in Birmingham.

(Maybe we could move these last few posts to the Crochet/Kopech thread)

[Jack Parkman]

24 minutes ago, ptatc said:

They really aren't that different at this time. If he gets to 100 only starting, he will either pitch only every 8th day or end his season very early. In the pen he can pitch the whole season a little at a time. 

Next year is the year he needs to build up consecutive innings so he can pitch 130-150 innings. This year is just getting him increased innings because he's never done that.

Yep, this is what I was thinking. 

[Y2Jimmy0]

1 hour ago, SoxBlanco said:

Thanks for your insight. If that’s true, then I’m not sure why anybody would want him to start in the minors.

Curious to hear @Y2Jimmy0’s thoughts, since I know you’ve been wanting him to start in Birmingham.

(Maybe we could move these last few posts to the Crochet/Kopech thread)

The Sale plan doesn’t make sense for him because he has no innings base. If they think he’s a starter, he should be starting. If he’s in the big league bullpen all year, I’d bet that he’s never a starter. He needs innings. I doubt he gets 100 pitching out of big league bullpen. 

[Jack Parkman]

17 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

The Sale plan doesn’t make sense for him because he has no innings base. If they think he’s a starter, he should be starting. If he’s in the big league bullpen all year, I’d bet that he’s never a starter. He needs innings. I doubt he gets 100 pitching out of big league bullpen. 

I think they're going to pitch him in some high leverage situations and in 3 inning mop up stints as well. 

[Blackout Friday]

35 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

The Sale plan doesn’t make sense for him because he has no innings base. If they think he’s a starter, he should be starting. If he’s in the big league bullpen all year, I’d bet that he’s never a starter. He needs innings. I doubt he gets 100 pitching out of big league bullpen. 

I think he should be an opener every six days/emergency reliever otherwise. Three or so innings. It’ll help the rest of the staff as well after short workloads in 2020. Evaluate after the season. 

[quickman]

2 hours ago, ptatc said:

They really aren't that different at this time. If he gets to 100 only starting, he will either pitch only every 8th day or end his season very early. In the pen he can pitch the whole season a little at a time. 

Next year is the year he needs to build up consecutive innings so he can pitch 130-150 innings. This year is just getting him increased innings because he's never done that.

They will probably treat him like they treated chris sale. Same thing .

[SoxBlanco]

43 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

The Sale plan doesn’t make sense for him because he has no innings base. If they think he’s a starter, he should be starting. If he’s in the big league bullpen all year, I’d bet that he’s never a starter. He needs innings. I doubt he gets 100 pitching out of big league bullpen. 

I don’t think it’ll be the Sale plan. I see them being creative to get him up to 100 innings. If they start him in the bigs, there will definitely be a plan that is well thought-out. Maybe it’s a few starts here or there. Maybe it’s 2 or 3 or eventually even 4 inning relief appearances once a week for a certain amount of time. 

If it doesn’t matter how he gets his 100 innings in terms of affecting his chances of being a starter moving forward, and a solid plan is put into place, I’d rather him be in the majors being challenged and helping the team. 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

10 hours ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

Love me some Hand.. But we would be very LHP heavy in the bullpen for the playoffs with Hand, Bummer and Crochet.. Still the second best option hands down though

Infinite possibilities for old rock walk up music:

I Want to Hold your Hand- Beatles

Too Much Time on My Hands -Styx

Hand in Hand - Elvis Costello

Hand Me Down World-The Guess Who

Hand In My Pocket- Alanis Morissette

Second Hand News - Fleetwood Mac

Hand On Heart-Queensryche

The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

Hand Over Fist -Rush

Hold My Hand - Hootie and the Blowfish

I'll stop now.

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[poppysox]

19 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

 

The thought of Hand as our closer is growing on me.  Two years at 8 mil sounds much better than Hendriks 4 yrs at 14/15 per year.  Money saved here can be better spent thrown at the starter search.

[Y2Jimmy0]

9 hours ago, Blackout Friday said:

I think he should be an opener every six days/emergency reliever otherwise. Three or so innings. It’ll help the rest of the staff as well after short workloads in 2020. Evaluate after the season. 

Giolito, Lynn and Keuchel don’t like pitching on 5 days rest. We don’t have to complicate this 

[ptatc]

1 hour ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Giolito, Lynn and Keuchel don’t like pitching on 5 days rest. We don’t have to complicate this 

Agreed. You can't take guys whose bodies are used to a certain amount of work/rest ratio and all of a sudden change it. The body doesn't work that way. You can slowly modify over time but not that abruptly. 

[EloyJenkins]

58 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Agreed. You can't take guys whose bodies are used to a certain amount of work/rest ratio and all of a sudden change it. The body doesn't work that way. You can slowly modify over time but not that abruptly. 

For sure. Also...you also have a new coach and a new pitching coach that will have to navigate the personnel. Radically altering your three best pitchers cadence probably isn't the way to kick off that new coaching relationship.