Tampa Bay Rays sign Roberto Hernandez – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays have taken a bold initiative on Tuesday as they signed a one-year deal with the former Cleveland Indians starter Roberto Hernandez.
He was given a one-year $3.25 million deal plus incentives and bonuses. Hernandez will be added in Rays’ 2013 40 man roster in starting rotation but the manager can use him as backup in bullpen.
"Right now we're confident that he's going to help us get meaningful outs and continue to allow our pitching to be a strength," Rays executive vice president of baseball Andrew Friedman said and explained in the media with detail.
"We're not sure exactly what role we're going to use him in, but obviously he has a lot more experience starting than being used out of the bullpen, so we feel like there is a lot of upside with him, and with his groundball tendencies he'll fit in extremely well with our infield defense and what we're envisioning it to be in 2013."
Hernandez is considered a good player and has played with the Indians for several years. Overall he spent seven seasons in the Tribe and showed consistent results.
He went 53-69 at win-loss along with 4.64 ERA with the Indians. He played over 184 games and started 153 on the mound.
Last season with the Indians, he went 7.53 ERA along with 0-3 win-loss, two strikeouts and 1.40 WHIP. His career ERA of 4.64 along with 53-69 win-loss, 567 strikeouts and 1.43 WHIP also makes him a good role player in the league.
During last year, the six year Major League veteran made some huge news when he was arrested by his native country Dominican Republic authorities over false information regarding getting a visa.
Rays executive vice president of baseball Andrew Friedman said, “Obviously, last year was a lost year for him in a lot of respects."
Later it was revealed in the media that Hernandez is his real name. On his Major League arrival in 2006, everyone used to call him Fausto Carmona. His date of birth was also false in the documents which he used to show Major League authorities.
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