Twins add starting pitcher

According to Fox Sports baseball analysis, Ken Rosenthal, the Twins have agreed to a 1-year contract with Livan Hernandez worth somewhere between $5-6 million (but based on incentives may rise to $7 million).

I'm not ecstatic about this signing, however if the Twins were going to dip into the free agency market to add a veteran starter, I would've wanted it to be Hernandez who they took the chance on.

He has a career record of 134-128 with a 4.25 ERA. When healthy, he's a very consistent pitcher who'll give his team at least 200 innings per season. He's considered a workhorse, but he does allow batters to hit a very high .278 career against him. In 2007, he had a down season after his successful early arrival to the Diamondbacks in '06. In '07, he was 11-11 with a 4.95 ERA and a horrid 90/79 K/BB ratio.

He may challenge for the number one starting spot in the rotation, although I'll be surprised if he beats out some of our in-house candidates for the position. I think this deal is what is best for him as he wasn't getting the long-term deal he wanted with other clubs, so he will probably only be here to raise his value and then hit the free agency market again next season.

Perhaps this was a move to have him bat, as a pitcher, he's a career .232 hitter with 9 home runs in 789 AB's. Watch out Nick Punto, you may be the guy on the chopping block (I'm kidding).

I just can't help but wonder what that means for guys like Phil Humber and Glen Perkins who I don't think have any options left (if they do, I'm betting it's just one) so if they don't make the roster, they'll have to go through waivers.

Imagine 1 of the 4 players acquired for Santana being taken by another team before he even has a chance to prove himself with the team.

We'll see what happens. If I'm not mistaken, team is going to have to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for him, which could mean that we'll be seeing another Twins-related bit of news later this morning/afternoon.