Sans veteran ace Johan Santana, youngster Matt Garza and Carlos Silva, the Minnesota Twins agreed Tuesday to a one-year, $5 million contract with Livan Hernandez, who hopes to earn an extra $2 million in performance bucks.
Not only does he spike the collective age of the young Twins rotation, but he also brings experience and even some talent. And he's El Duque's half-brother, so that's cool.
Last season, the Cuban righty... who turns 33 on February 20th and is totally single, ladies... went 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA in 33 starts for the Arizona Diamondbacks. As a two-time All-Star with 10 big league seasons under his belt, Hernandez is a career 134-128 with a 4.25 ERA spanning 350 starts, including 32 complete games, which leads the majors. He's a workhorse.
The question is, are Smith and Gardy planning a weight-loss intervention like they did with Boof?
Welcome to the American League, Livan!
[Pioneer Press]
9 comments:
Clearly, I've suggested it before, but this is such a great move for the Twins on a... dare I say it... small scale. He'll keep the bullpen alive until July and then turn into a live arm or two, all for about $3m. Nice work by Smith.
"Bazeball been very very good to me." Livan Hernandez
How nice...on February 16 I turn 33 1/3...like an LP.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out for the Twins.
He's a good buy for the Twins, as he works, and works, and works...I wonder how he's going to handle seeing his ERA in the AL inflate like...well, like his waistline. Even if he pitches better than he has in the last few years, his ERA's going to jump. Personally, I'm all for NL, no DH, pinch-hitting, and double-switching 2-1 baseball ftw, but that's an opinion and I know how AL fans love their 11-8 ballgames.
Oh, speaking of pitchers, also celebrating a birthday on February 20....Tiger's hot pitcher Justin Verlander, who will be 25.
JV sure does throw some pretty pitches.
...and I'll be 27 on the 28th. *Sigh*
Tell your mother that you should have been born on the 29th. Then you would be this many.
Also, check your email, please. Thanks!
Let us not forget that the Boof Bonser diet is also the Carlos Silva diet! I imagine they'll be finding secret stashes of Snickers bars in the dugout for years to come.
Livan looks like Death. Is that acceptable to say that?
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