Over the past couple of days, the Cleveland Indians and Oakland A's have bolstered their bullpens.
The Tribe acquired Brad Hand from the San Diego Padres while the A's acquired Jeurys Familia from the New York Mets.
After five undistinguished seasons with the Marlins, Hand turned his career around in San Diego in 2016 when he served as Craig Kimbrel's setup man. Hand became the team's closer last year saving 21 games and had saved 24 games this season. He was a member of the NL All-Star Team for the past two seasons and would make his last Padre appearance at the All-Star Game earlier this week.
Despite Hand's credentials, Indians manager Terry Francona stated that Cody Allen will remain the team's primary closer although Hand could be used in certain situations. I think this is prudent on Tito's part. After all, Hand has closing games for a last place team and hasn't been in a pennant race. This will ease him into things. In acquiring Hand, the Indians are thinking beyond 2018 as Allen is a free agent at the end of the season. Hand is under contract until 2020 with a club option for 2021.
Unlike Hand, the post-season isn't unfamiliar territory for Familia who had his breakthrough season in 2015 when he save 43 games for the NL champion New York Mets. The following year, Familia led the NL with 51 saves. However, 2017 was a poor season for Familia as it was for nearly all the Mets. A domestic violence incident earned him a 15 game suspension at the beginning of the season and he would miss significant time with an arterial blood clot in his pitching shoulder. Familia had only six saves in 2017.
However, Familia would rebound in 2018 saving 17 games in 40 appearances for the Mets. It remains to be seen how long Familia will stay in Oakland as he is a free agent at the end of the season.
I suspect this will not be the last pitcher the Mets part ways with before the end of July.
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