The Mets today have announced the signing of the half brother of Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez, Livan Hernandez.
Hernandez, 34 - 46 in Cuban years, has been offered a minor league deal, with an invitation to Spring Training. Hernandez will join the log jam of pitchers vying for the #5 starter position. Right now, Tim Redding, Freddy Garcia, Jon Niese, and Bobby Parnell - are all in competition for the #5 position.
Hernandez, who won the 1997 World Series MVP award, has been much over-rated during his career. He does pitch a lot of innings, but tends to give up a lot of runs. Hernandez and the Mets have been a rumored match for years, and today it finally came to fruition.
I am not in favor of this signing, because of my belief that he has not only been grossly over rated during his 13 year career, but he doesn't make the team any better. I would rather see Freddy Garcia in the #5 role, and if not Garcia, maybe Redding. Niese should benefit greatly from another year at AAA (Buffalo). Hernandez is just another Jose Lima/Tony Armas Jr/Dave Williams type of signing, and I would hate for him to take the place of some home-grown talent.
Last year Livan was a miserable 13-11 with a 6.05 ERA in 31 combined starts with Minnesota and Colorado. His lifetime stats are: 147-139 with a 4.37 ERA in 382 career games with six different teams.
Source: National Post
1 comment:
I like the signing cause I would prefer to have Redding in the bullpen as long relief . To me its between Garcia and Livan for the 5th starter and it puts no pressure on Neise if he needs to start in Buffalo.
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