Pirates sign R.Hernandez

[rotterdam_82]

MLB.Com

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced they have signed free agent right-handed pitcher Roberto Hernandez for the 2006 season. No other terms of the deal were released. The Pirates also designated pitcher Matt Peterson for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Hernandez. The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President and General Manager, Dave Littlefield.

Hernandez, 41, went 8-6 with four saves and a 2.58 ERA in 67 relief appearances with the New York Mets last year. He did not allow a run in 55 of his 67 appearances and held right-handed batters to a .213 average while pitching for his seventh major league team.

Roberto will enter the 2006 season with 892 career games, second among active pitchers behind Mike Stanton (1,027) and first among all pitchers from Puerto Rico. The 14-year veteran has also tallied 324 career saves, tying him with Troy Percival for 10th place on the all-time list.

Originally selected by the California Angels in the first round of the 1986 June draft, Hernandez has pitched in the big leagues with the White Sox (1991-1997), Giants (1997), Devil Rays (1998-2000), Royals (2001-2002), Braves (2003), Phillies (2004) and Mets (2005). In that time, he has produced a 64-65 record, 324 saves and a 3.33 ERA in 892 games.

[rotterdam_82]

Hahahaha! Not one reply! Poor old Pirates........

[mbuser]

go pirates!

[Half Massed]

Any details about the contract let out yet?

[Thursday]

I live near Pittsburgh, and not even I heard about this one.

I went to one Pirates game this past year, and while PNC Park is very, very nice, it was the worst baseball game i was ever at.

[Mercer Boy]

I live near Pittsburgh, and not even I heard about this one.

Hmm, I knew about this like 3 days ago...just wasn't finalized until today.

Well, if he does what he did last year, he'll really make our bullpen look a whole lot better than in years past. Having Hernandez and Torres as righty set-up guys should get us through the 8th inning with the lead (heaven forbid we have one). Grabow and Marte (gulp...although I hope/think he'll end up somewhere else) would be tough lefties that can handle the matchups we need in the 7th and 8th. Gonzalez comes in to close.

Hernandez says that he wanted to pitch "meaningful innings" this year. He says he couldn't do that with the Yankees or any other team with top closers/set up men which would mean he'd pitch the 5th or 6th inning. Unfortunately with the Pirates, he'll probably pitch very few meaningful innings and end up pitching in the 5th and 6th inning anyway.

I went to one Pirates game this past year, and while PNC Park is very, very nice, it was the worst baseball game i was ever at.

It is nice, and yes, the Pirates stink most nights. Luckily out of the 6 games I went to last year I think the Pirates won 4...one of them was that 5-4 comeback win over the Mets where their bullpen completely imploded. Best game I have been to since the first Indians/Pirates 15 inning marathon where Giles jumped off the left field wall to rob them of a HR.