Crew signs Livan Hernandez

[Funketown]

Hernandez's numbers really aren't all that bad. Bill Hall isn't even a serviceable player these days; he hit .239/.285/.408 in AAA this season for Norfolk and really struggled for the Astros and Giants last season. Really too bad about Hall; perhaps we can have him throw out the first pitch on Mothers' Day some time...

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I believe they are filling Thornburg's spot with Estrada, aren't they? I think they like Izturis more than Maysonnet. Pretty much a toss-up there to me.

 

They called up McClendon for Thornburg's spot.

[3and2Fastball]

I believe they are filling Thornburg's spot with Estrada, aren't they? I think they like Izturis more than Maysonnet. Pretty much a toss-up there to me.

 

They called up McClendon for Thornburg's spot.

 

Thank you. I missed that, obviously.

 

Pretty soon, the Brewers will figure out who they are and whether they are in it or not. If they become sellers I hope we'll see a lot less of the Izturis & Ishikawa types and see more of the prospects like Green or even Logan Schafer playing every day. Schafer is hitting .294/.348 in AAA this year. The Brewers should get a good look at him in MLB and see where he is at....

[hawing]

 

I know, the spelling is different; but come on, how many of us got this earworm since the noon hour already?

[WV Brew]

I believe Suppan is now available too.

[TooLiveBrew]

If this Hernandez signing is in any way related to Marcum being gone long-ish term, and Melvin went with Grampa Levon over Thornburg... I don't think I'll be able to stomach this.

[jerichoholicninja]

The only thing this signing means is that outside of Greinke and Gallardo all our pitchers suck, are hurt, or aren't ready.

[JohnBriggs12]

If this Hernandez signing is in any way related to Marcum being gone long-ish term, and Melvin went with Grampa Levon over Thornburg... I don't think I'll be able to stomach this.

 

Greinke, Gallardo, Wolf, Estrada, Fiers are your 5 starters with Marcum gone. So no, Hernandez isn't taking a spot for Thornburg. Dillard and Parra have proven incapable of providing multiple clean innings and that's stressed the pen. I believe it's as simple as that. McClendon is just an extra arm until Estrada gets activated on Tuesday. I would guess either Dillard or the almost never seen Perez will surrender a roster spot for Livan.

[Invader3K]

If this Hernandez signing is in any way related to Marcum being gone long-ish term, and Melvin went with Grampa Levon over Thornburg... I don't think I'll be able to stomach this.

 

Eh...I think honestly Thornburg could use some polishing in AAA right now. This signing doesn't bother me much. Plus it sounds like Hernandez will mainly work out of the bullpen, where we need some help anyway.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

Corresponding move is a Juan Perez DFA.

[fondybrewfan]

Can we just raise the White Flag already? Livan freakin Hernandez.

[Thurston Fluff]

This has nothing to do with the Brewers needs. It was just their turn to have him on the team.

[PrinceEatMeat]

This has nothing to do with the Brewers needs. It was just their turn to have him on the team.

 

Yep, alphabetical order. Braves, then Brewers. The Cardinals better buckle up, because they're up next.

[pacopete4]

I love watching guys in the MLB that I can hit. Rather see this guy than Dillard or Perez.

[dacbrewers]

Hernandez? Really, what is going on with this signing? I've watched enough of him through the years to come up with a clear picture of how he pitches. NOT VERY WELL!!! Why did we sign this guy?

[TooLiveBrew]

For the same reason Izturis wasn't DFA'd -- he has a Track Record™ as a professional

[brains and braun]

I swear we just had April Fool's Day...

[trwi7]

My first thought when I heard this.

 

[logan82]

Have we not suffered enough this season? Doug Melvin thinks no I guess.

[danzig6767]

I'm still blown away that Livan managed to be as productive as he was for Washington in 2010 and 2011. Watching him pitch, he stuff looked as hittable as Suppan with that 84-87 mph fastball of his.

 

If Marcum ends up being ok, i'd rather see Estrada go to the pen and Fiers stay in the rotation.

[monty57]

Nothing againgst Hernandez, but this is just another way to keep a potentially useful young player in AAA. Hernandez will take the long reliever role, Estrada to the rotation, Fiers to the minors when Marcum's ready. Then Green (who's behind Random in Roenicke's book) will head back when Ishikawa returns.

[Thurston Fluff]

Nothing againgst Hernandez, but this is just another way to keep a potentially useful young player in AAA. Hernandez will take the long reliever role, Estrada to the rotation, Fiers to the minors when Marcum's ready. Then Green (who's behind Random in Roenicke's book) will head back when Ishikawa returns.

 

I see nothing wrong with that. Those potentially useful players haven't shown themselves to be more useful now than their replacements and can be more useful by getting better in AAA. None of them are finished learning at that level so why rush them to make a lateral move production wise? Fiers looks good for a rookie but not better than Estrada or Marcum. I can see the argument of leaving Fires in the rotation to help the pen but that cheats Estrada out of a job he kind of deserves. I think that is a bad precedent to set. We can let Hernandez pitch in low leverage situations as an innings eater and save our pen a lot of wear and tear without losing any games by doing so. It would put the rest of the pen back to their normal roles to boot.

Green should be getting regular time in AAA since he's not going to get much time anyway with Weeks, Ramirez and Hart ahead of him. Why let him sit on the bench when Ishikawa has done better in that role this season so far? Add in the maintenance of depth keeping those veterans provides and every one of those moves seems to me to be obvious.

[LouisEly]

We can let Hernandez pitch in low leverage situations as an innings eater and save our pen a lot of wear and tear without losing any games by doing so.

 

That, or Eric Gregg is coming back from the dead and umpiring a few upcoming series.

[Thurston Fluff]

I think you're getting a little carried away. Dude is not the worst pitcher of all time or anything close. He's a pitcher at the end of his career who still has enough left to get enough outs to eat some innings when one team is four or so runs ahead. That is the role he is going to have here. Hernandez can eat innings in lopsided games to save the pen for more important ones. The team needed a long man and they got one. That was something we needed to get our relievers back to roles they can do well. Not directed at you LouisEly but it seems like so many people talk about a manager putting players in the right position to succeed then when the team does something that goes toward that end they complain about how it's being done. If this help the rest of the pen stay in roles they are best at then what's the problem?

[RockCoCougars]

I see it this way...

 

Hernandez can't be worse than Perez.

 

He's likely going to be used as a Suppan-esque 'innings eater', a 'mop up guy'. He will probably be the fifth or sixth guy in the pecking order, and is likely to pitch in games where the Brewers are behind. Right now, the Brewers have no relievers who seem to be able to go more than one inning, hopefully Hernandez can pitch 2-3 innings if necessary.

 

Now I reserve the right to change my mind on this, if RR starts running him out there in the 7th inning in tie games, but I don't think that's going to be his role.