TKF Duets: The Hand Deadline (Part 1)

TKF Duets: The Hand Deadline (Part 1)

The MLB Trade Deadline is a difficult time for all baseball fans. Nicholas McCann and Nick Burmeister AKA Padres Haiku wrote to each other all week about it. Here is part one.

NICHOLAS MCCANN – Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 8:17 AM

Dear Haiku,

I’ve missed your letters. Having just returned from the east, I’m thinking a lot about Pandas. Few things will ever bring me more joy than listening to Boston sports talk radio the day Pablo Sandoval was DFA’d. The entire region will hate him forever and he doesn’t care. A big deal was made about how close the Padres were on signing Sandoval. He could have been part of the sizzle this ownership felt pressured to try and sell us. This week the team is under pressure as well. It feels like they have to attain assets before the trade deadline to keep the hope of the rebuild alive. This will be a long week. It won’t be a Sandoval sized splash, but we need something to get excited about before the team likely really starts tanking in August and September.

If they do nothing, how will you feel?

PADRES HAIKU- Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 9:54 AM

Nick,

I’m always thinking about pandas–so I get it. Boston sports talk sounds like a nightmare and that’s coming from someone who has split time between Philly and NYC sports media. I remember the big story about how Sandoval turned down more San Diego money to play in Boston. Joke’s on all of us ‘cuz the Padres ended up with Middlebrooks & Panda still got a multi-generational payday. Boston fans put unrealistic expectations on their players but with Sandoval that ire seems warranted. Padre fans are losing minds because nothing has happened yet at the trading deadline, but it’s still a week away. Then there’s the waiver wire after that. A.J. has a long time to move Kirby Yates or Brad Hand or anyone else.

I think we’re just bored. We don’t want to think about football yet and actually watching the team feels like peeling Greyscale off our bodies. Honestly, Hand might not get traded this deadline, which is fine. There really is no rush. There are always buyers for good lefties out of the pen. A trade might happen during the off-season and if Hand continues to excel his value will go up. Of course that means betting on Brad Hand, but that’s a risk that’s worth it. The return on Brad Hand isn’t going to be so overwhelming that I wouldn’t be willing to try to improve it. I’ll say this though. If the Padres just on Hand and aren’t “feeling it,” it’s called “The Stranger.

What do you think Clayton Kershaw being hurt does the overall trading market?

NICHOLAS MCCANN – Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 5:46 PM

The Dodgers might be more aggressive with going for a Sonny Gray or Verlander or somebody like that. Kershaw is going to come back for the postseason and blow up another year. That’s what he does. I hate the Dodgers.

TRADE ALERT!!!!!

The Royals have officially been Prelled!

The Padres trade away Maurer, Cahill, and Buchter for Travis Wood, Matt Strahm, and Esteury Ruiz. I like this trade. The Royals will pay Wood’s salary and it adds more prospects to the soup our front office is slow cooking. I wonder if it makes it more likely that they keep Brad Hand now. Nobody could say they weren’t active at this crucial time of year for a rebuilding club. What do you think?

P.S. Maton for closer. Maybe that girl he likes will finally go to prom with him.

PADRES HAIKU – Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 7:27 PM

The Dodgers plus Darvish could be a gross combo. The Royals!! I figured that if Cahill or Maurer were getting moved they’d go to a fringy team looking for a bargain like the Brewers or the Rays, but the Royals are legit AL Wild Card contenders. AJ has to prove his trustworthiness to rest of the league following last year’s brouhaha. If all goes well it might pave the way for a better deal for Hand in the off-season. I’ve never heard of Esteury Ruiz but that’s an A+ baseball name so I’m on board. Getting Wood for free is cool. That’s the kind of guy Darren Balsley turns into an asset. Strahm is super young so well have to see, but it’s not like a team can have too much pitching. A lefty at that… I’m super looking forward to Padres Twitter hating the trade in 12 hrs, loving it in 24, and then hating it again by next week. It’s hard to grade it before we’ve seen how all these guys do in their new roles.

Does this mean Between Two Bases is over? Are there unaired episodes getting locked in a vault somewhere? Can we see those tapes, Wayne? Wayne!!! We need the tapes!! Wayne?!?!?!

Who replaces Cahill in the rotation? Bummed we didn’t get televised hugs.

Quack for closer. Really let that tank settle in.

NICHOLAS MCCANN – Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 3:13 PM

I’ve had some time to think about the loss of Maurer Power in my life. Essentially he closed for a year and never made an impression. Buchter was finding his voice on Padres POV and I’ve basically already forgotten Trevor Cahill’s face. It seems there is some chatter that the Padres might have sacrificed getting a better prospect for the cash considerations tied to the Travis Wood salary that the Royals are eating. We’ll never know. And more importantly, who is really clamoring for the inside details of this trade? The Padres shuffled some things around and added more projects. The Hand deal is still out there though. Do you think he’ll pitch much in this Mets series?

PADRES HAIKU – Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 5:29 PM

Well the Padres *are* debuting Kyle Lloyd tonight and if things go the way most think, they’re going to have to use every arm in the bullpen tonight. So yeah, after we make him spin the Virgin Wheel of Doom & throw some bagels and toilet paper at him, I think we might see Hand for a batter or three.

I’ll be at the game tonight with my friend Ben the Mets fan. If you have any heckles send them my way. I suspect the Padres might get waxed tonight. They can still hit. The “Prospect vs Money” thing from the Gwynntelligence Podcast today was interesting. They basically said, “The team could have picked up a fourth player instead of getting Wood for free.” There might be something there, but it might not have even been on the table. So far the narrative around AJ Preller is that his asking prices are too high. Another prospect from their organization would have been asking too much. AJ didn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good and he made a deal. Padres got a prospect, a lottery ticket, and a warm body to fill a rotation spot for the rest for the year for three guys that aren’t going to help them any time in the near future. (I.e. Tank) It’s fine. Might be great-unlikely bad. You think Hand still gets moved? I’m not sure he does.

People are already declaring winners and losers in this trade. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

NICHOLAS MCCANN – Wed, Jul 26, 2017 at 8:51 PM

Today has been interesting. Ron Fowler got on the radio and made it sound like they probably wouldn’t trade Brad Hand. Now is Ron being smart and trying to not give any leverage to other teams who are interested? I don’t know. As far as public perception, the Buchter, Maurer, and Cahill deal gives them cover to be able to say they did something.

PADRES HAIKU – Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 12:13 AM

Not trading Hand is only a problem if he gets hurt, which is so Padres it smells like Eric Show’s jock strap. The deadline is still a loooong ways away.

I talked to a bunch of Mets fans at Petco last night. Now there is a fan base in no-mans-land. Almost all of them (Not my friend) still think the Mets are going to the playoffs and that they should be buyers, which is crazy. At the same time none of them (including my friend) have any faith in anybody in their organization to do anything right, which is reasonable. I know they went to the World Series a few years ago, but it’s a real circus act of an organization led by our old friend Sandy Alderson. I’d never investigate, but I suspect Mets Twitter is just like Padres Twitter: Defeatist and optimistic at the same time. They have a haiku account and everything. I’m shocked at how many people think Wil Myers could get traded. There’s no way that happens, even if he wasn’t slumping.

NICHOLAS MCCANN – Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 9:33 PM

Before the final game of the Mets series tonight (Padres won and Brad Hand got the save)reports came down that Verdugo, one of the top Dodgers prospects, had been sat for his game tonight. I’ll admit I got excited that this meant the Brad Hand deal would go through and this entire deadline heighten anxiety period would be over. Then I remembered that the Dodgers are going after a starting pitcher and wouldn’t pay that much for Hand.

So we wait.

I want more prospects. I want to believe.

Haiku, I need a haiku. A strong one to take me into the weekend…

PADRES HAIKU – Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 10:43 PM

Worthy candidates/ from one hand for another / Peoria bound

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Nick was born in San Diego in 1980. He started The Kept Faith on blogspot in 2008.

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