Braves dump a pitcher (Hanson) they once viewed as gold
Once a touted prospect, Tommy Hanson leaves Braves with unrealized expectations. (Curtis Compton)
Three years ago, Tommy Hanson was viewed as a precious commodity. The Braves would tell other teams, “Don’t even bother asking about him.” When the San Diego Padres asked about him anyway, as the key to a potential Jake Peavy trade, the Braves laughed. Not Tommy, he’s our guy.
On June 3, 2009, Braves general manager Frank Wren unceremoniously cut Tom Glavine, a future Hall of Famer who was expecting a call-up following a rehabilitation assignment. Why? Because they needed the spot in the pitching rotation for Hanson, who was called up on the same day. The younger Tommy now was their guy.
He was the Braves’ future. He was young and personable, a towering power pitcher who would be a staple of the team’s pitching staff for years.
Now Hanson is gone. Funny how quickly an athlete can go from being untouchable to, “Please, just take him.”
The Braves traded Hanson to the Los Angeles Angels for a reliever, Jordan Walden. This is like not being able to afford a suit at Nordstrom on one day and then suddenly seeing it hanging on a clearance rack at Value City the next. There’s Tommy Hanson, 10 feet from the toaster ovens.
This trade wasn’t made because the Braves suddenly fell in love with another team’s right-handed reliever. It was made because they completely lost faith in the starting pitcher they once fiercely protected and projected as a franchise centerpiece.
The spin you will hear is that the Braves did this to save money. Hanson’s salary was about to jump to $4 million in his first arbitration-eligible winter, and the hope is that payroll chunk can be used to help complete their outfield, preferably for a leadoff hitter. (Shane Victorino would complete this dream sequence.)
But that’s really not what this is all about because if Hanson had become what everybody thought he would become, the Braves wouldn’t blink at paying him $4 million. Or, eventually, $6 million or $8 million, or $10 million. Because that is the status level the organization once projected for Hanson, a top-of-the-rotation staple for several years.
This is why it’s always amusing when fans become apoplectic when an organization trades a touted prospect, as if “MVP” or “Cy Young” is stamped on anybody’s forehead. Hanson was considered a guarantee, and that guarantee was just sent three time zones away for a bullpen guy.
The Braves were concerned about Hanson’s back and shoulder issues. They were concerned about his messed-up pitching mechanics to compensate for those injuries and certainly about his ability in the future to deal with that. His velocity had dropped, and if a power pitcher can’t be overpowering, it’s a problem.
It was a bad season. Hanson wrecked his truck driving to spring training. He dealt with speculative theories about what might have led to that one-car wreck. The injuries and lack of success obviously wore on him. But what upset him most was the growing number of people who viewed him as a pitcher on the decline.
When we spoke about this in August, Hanson said, “I try not to worry about it. I just worry about myself, keep trying to get better, keep trying to keep my body healthy to perform. Anything after that, there’s no need for me to worry about it because people will say what they’re going to say, and they’re going to have doubts and think that there’s something wrong with me, and they don’t know.”
It’s clear, however, that Hanson is at the point where he has to prove to others that nothing is wrong. The assumption now is closer to: little is right.
So much for guarantees.
By Jeff Schultz
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111 comments Add your comment
Boo Boo
December 1st, 2012
10:56 am
I remember the hype I first heard about Hanson … how he was giving the Big O to scouts and coaches in the Arizona Winter League … just wait till next spring. First time I saw him pitch I thought, “this guy throws like a girl. He’s going to have arm problems.” Short-armmed pitchers don’t last long.
johnny
December 1st, 2012
11:03 am
Mr.Wren we couldn’t get a left fielder for Hanson from minn.willingham has repeatly said he would love to play for braves.i had no problem trading Hanson i felt he would continue to get worse.I didn’t agree with Upton signing, we already had a dead pull hitter who wouldn’t adjust his approach with 2 strikes and avg.over 150 strike-outs a year.Im not sure how many strike-outs Chipper had for his career but between Heyward,uggla,upton and God knows how many strike-outs our future leftfielder will avg.,but one of these cats surely will break 1 of chippers records …STRKE-OUTS
Shouldn't have done all that acid in the 70's
December 1st, 2012
11:38 am
Nothing against Tommy Handsome, but he always looked like he had an itchy rear and had missed a wipe. He looked miserable whenever the camera showed him not pitching. Might have been a good guy but appearances do matter and he appeared to be scowling and snarky and not much of an interview. Don’t really care enough to say good luck or bad luck.
Nurse Ratched [aka Randal Patrick McMurphy]
December 1st, 2012
12:40 pm
Jettisoned some more pitching staff ‘Dead Wood’…
I personally see no issue with that… good swap…
extremus
December 1st, 2012
4:02 pm
Both Hanson and Jurrjens had been far too inconsistent the past couple of years not to be considered liabilities. Both showed glimpses of potential greatness from time to time, but health issues and random days when they essentially threw batting practice diminished their stock in Atlanta. The clincher with Hanson was that he’s a Boras client, and parting with him now was considered a better risk even for a power bullpen arm with its own health history. It also freed up a few million on the Braves’ payroll to help address their remaining needs this offseason.
While proven commodities are what most of us would prefer, given the fact that Liberty Media is the ownership Frank Wren may well opt where possible to acquire/trade prospects in the interest of long term cost/benefit considerations. Another Uggla/Derek Lowe-type situation is exactly what the Braves and their fans don’t want, and after Upton I don’t see Wren taking a similar risk during the same offseason for any player with a glaring weakness. I’d love to see the Braves get Will Myers from Kansas City, but the departure of Hanson and Jurrjens likely means they’ll now hold onto the pitchers that the Royals might consider in return. But it’s only December 1st, and that means there’s still plenty of time for moves to be made, maybe even some pleasantly surprising ones.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 1st, 2012
4:40 pm
The reel reason was Hansen has a drug or alchohal problem. Ive been sayin it 4 a long time and even got band by O’Brain blog 4 sayin it but it is quiet oblivous he has a problem.
IdahoBravesFan
December 2nd, 2012
1:15 am
I always viewed his mechanics as horrible and wonder if he was unwilling to change them, hence leading to their decision to get rid of him. I remembered going to a minor league game here in Boise and watching the pitchers and thinking that they throw like Tommy Hanson. I view this as a good move. He had at least a little value left in him rather than waiting until he was a physical basked case. Only way he will ever succeed in the majors is a major overhaul of his pitching motion. He is all arm and it looks like a ruined arm looking for a place to happen. Unorthodox = horrible.
Steve
December 2nd, 2012
12:42 pm
Here is the problem with the Braves as it comes to pitching.
They do not have the PATIENCE to develop a power pitcher. They expect guys to come out firing like Clemens, Gooden, and Ryan from the age of 20. That is just to rare. The stories of guys like Halladay, Verlander and others that don’t come into their own until 4-5 years in the league happen more frequently.
The Braves grew impatient with Hanson and decided to change him. That windup change was the worst thing I have EVER seen done to a pitcher. It was horrendous and it hsould have been scrapped after watching one day of it. I don’t care what reasons the Braves had for doing it, you could tell the motion was completely un-natural for Tommy and it fought against his natural ability.
It took 3-5 mph off his fastball and completely eliminated the very small movement he had on his fastball. Usually when you overpitch your fastball it straightens out. Well, I think Tommy was trying to throw it as hard as he could from the new delivery and it straightened out the pitch and he still lost that much speed.
The Braves have no one but themselves to look at for Hanson’s downslide. If I am the Angels pitching coach the first thing I do is go out and throw the football with him and try to guage his natural motion, then get him to pitch like that. Yes, he might injure his elbow (so have the Tommy John if that happens and he comes back stronger). Yes, it might injure his shoulder, but that abnormal delivery is so against his natural motion that it’s liable to cause other problems anyway.
Point blank, the Braves demolished Hanson. he did everythign they asked and it might have cost him a promising career. Hopefully for Tommy’s sake the Angels can break him down and get him back on track.
As for the Braves, FIRE McDowell for even thinking that delivery change was a good idea. Get rid of him now before he destroys Minor, Delgado, Teheran and possibly Gilmartin. Go find a Leo or Dave Duncan disciple and let’s move forward.
Bob the Blogger
December 3rd, 2012
5:02 pm
So many people pointed out that Hanson’s delivery was going to cause him problems, even before he made it to the majors. However, I don’t think he can change it drastically; it’s his natural motion. I wish him the best – he seems like a good person.
Ronald Millsaps
December 6th, 2012
11:34 pm
Attention, Braves: Quit apparently considering getting rid of too much pitching. Also, is the team overworking some arms? How many guys have had arm trouble in recent years? How many times has the bullpen been overworked? Having a ton of pitching becomes nullified if half the surplus, if you will, is traded and the other half injured.
Why was the team not too interested in Shane Victorino?
I really like the idea of letting Evan Gattis play left; his story is quite inspirational. He might be a real slugger in the big leagues.
Bring back Matt Diaz, and why the haste to let go of Eric Hinske? I don’t get that…at all.
Pray about the decisions you make, Mr. Wren. John 3:16-17 KJV
Ronald Millsaps
December 6th, 2012
11:40 pm
Steve–excellent post. While I’m not sure we should fire McDowell, I’d consider it. I do think some guys need adjustments in how they’re coached.
Re-sign Peter Moylan also.
Tom Glavine would be a fine pitching coach.
The team has more money available than it indicates, as apathetic, greedy ownership misleads us. I would consider strongly reacquiring Michael Bourn, who likely becomes a Dodger or Yankee, as the team could indeed afford his services. If not, I still say to at least give Jose Constanza a month to six weeks at leadoff—and maybe the team should offer the first-base coaching job to Otis Nixon or (they wouldn’t do this in a million years) Deion Sanders.
Baseball needs a new commissioner and has for years, as do the other two of the “big three”. The “outfield fly rule” play supplanted Kent Hrbek’s pushing Ron Gant off of first as “worst call in baseball history”.
Don’t subscribe to the nonsense that a Phil Simms would feed you. He recently didn’t like a call but said he wouldn’t criticize a referee’s “judgment”. Well, Phil, not all judgment is reputable. The term “poor judgment” is indeed a substantiated term.