Continuing the organization's recent affinity for washed up veterans, the Minnesota Twins signed Livan Hernandez to a 1 year, 5 million dollar deal on Tuesday. Hernandez could earn up to 2 million more if he meets performance-based incentives. 2008 will be Livan's 13th MLB season, a career which has seen him amass a record of 134-128 while spending time with the Florida Marlins, San Francisco Giants, Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, and Arizona Diamondbacks. He immediately becomes the Twins most experienced starting pitcher by far.
Hernandez likely will not conjure up memories of recent free agent busts Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz, but his signing is a head-scratcher nonetheless. Livan would be an OK addition to a contender as a back-end starter, thanks to his ability to eat innings and his wealth of postseason experience. For the Twins, a team with plenty of younger, cheaper options that could duplicate his output, he seems like a bit of a misfit. The 40 man roster is littered with youngsters who project as 3rd, 4th, and 5th starters and all of them desperately need MLB experience. This will likely push a guy like Nick Blackburn or Glen Perkins to the pen and it would appear that the Twins top 4 starters at this point would be Hernandez, Scott Baker, Boof Bonser, and Kevin Slowey, with Liriano possibly starting out of the pen to build his stamina. One positive that Hernandez brings is his aforementioned ability to eat innings, giving the bullpen arms a rest whenever he is on the mound.
1 comment:
Livan "Hungry, Hungry" Hernandez has the opportunity to be the next Carlos Silva, but at a much cheaper price. This year Livan will be earning at least $5 million and Silva will be earning (a laughable) $11 Million.
Over the past 4 years Silva has averaged 193 Innings, Livan has averaged 230 Innings. That is a fairly large difference. The one thing we can be sure of with "Hungry" is that he has been the model of consistency. Granted, like Rob has mentioned he would be a great back of the rotation guy, the Twins like an inning guy to lead the rotation (It took Santana a Cy Young to get the 1 sport.)
Another interesting Stat on "Hungry," is his Quality Starts, this a a stat that the Twins organization is in love with. Over the past 6 years he has been able to put up about 20 QS, every season. If he could put up a number close to this I think he would be worth the investment. Keep in mind he will not lead our rotation long, with guys like Liriano, Baker and Slowey nipping at his heels he will not last long.
Of course getting someone like Carlos Silva isn't necessarily a good thing, they both will have an ubove average ERA and give up alot of homers, but at least this guy will give our bullpen some reast.
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