San Diego Padres

The Padres have a long, deep history of trading relief pitchers to playoff contenders, and Brad

Hand might be the next to go. Blame it on the 27-year-old’s white-hot start this season.

“He’s the type of reliever that only honestly really exists in a few places today,” manager Andy

Green told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Hand is defeating a wide variety of hitters. He appears comfortable no matter what the situation. His arm is resilient, too.

“There’s a lot of different ways to utilize him,” Green said. “It would be unwise to limit our team to a declaration that I’m going to

“I’m a little jealous. Yep, a little jealous. I wish we’d had some of those (pitchers) when I was playing.” Former Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, talking about Colorado’s pitching staff to The Denver Post

obligate myself to use this guy in the ninth inning.”

Performances of relief pitchers are more apt to fluctuate from season to season, encouraging teams to sell off a hot one.

uWhen does Padres ownership believe the team can reach the postseason? The year 2020, said executive chairman Ron

Fowler, who cited that forecast as the team’s rationale for denying the San Diego State football team use of Petco Park beyond 2019.