Roberto Hernandez to the AZ D’Backs? Sure, Why Not?
By Thomas Lynch
My friend Michelle keeps sending me nuggets of information about the Arizona Diamondbacks during the General Managers Meeting. You know, the 155th rumor of Justin Upton, this time to the Seattle Mariners according to harballtalk.com. From the same website there is this tidbit regarding the team trading Jason Kubel. Nick Piecoro at azcentral.com reported that the D’Backs are interested in a proven starters for the rotation and that Brandon McCarthy could be a target. I’d like to think outside the box a little and request a guy who could definitely use a change of scenery. So what if Roberto Hernandez was so unhappy with his name that he changed it to Fausto Carmona? He would be a perfect one year solution for the Snakes.
Roberto Hernandez would be a great one year fit for the D’Backs. Image: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
After all, he seems to be willing to take a one year deal to prove to the world he can still pitch and therefore, land a nice multi-year package for 2014 and beyond. By that time, youngsters Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer should be ready to assume a full workload starting with the 2014 season. Arizona could probably sign Carmona for less money than McCarthy and there is less of an injury risk with him. Though his peak season of 19-8 was back in 2007, he was an All-Star as recently as 2010. At age 32, Hernandez knows this will be his last chance at that one big payday. He will be plenty motivated and he does have prior big game experience with that 2007 Cleveland Indians squad that won 96 times and was a game away from going to the World Series.
Look, I know when you look at his career record of 53-69 with an ERA of 4.64 you think I am crazy. But this is the Diamondbacks we are talking about where money isn’t exactly sticking out of every cactus in the Phoenix area. Signing Roberto Hernandez is a very low risk, medium high reward. Maybe with a new league, he can keep hitters off balance until Daniel Hudson returns from his injury. If Kevin Towers has any reservations about this, he can give me a call and I can talk him through it.
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