1:30pm: Buchanan also reports that the contract contains up to $2MM worth of incentives — $1MM in each year (Twitter links). Hernandez would earn $50K for making his 40th appearance in each year of the deal, and he’d earn an additional $100K for his 45th, 50th, 55th and 60th appearances each season. He’ll also earn $150K for making his 65th and 70th appearances, and he can earn $125K for finishing 30 and 35 games in each year of the deal.
1:00pm: The Reds announced on Tuesday that they’ve signed free-agent right-hander David Hernandez to a two-year contract. Cincinnati’s 40-man roster is now full with the addition of the veteran reliever. Hernandez, a client of agent Jason Hoffman, will earn $2.5MM in both years of the contract, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (via Twitter).
Hernandez, 33, took a winding route to the Majors with the Angels last season, signing a minor league deal with the Giants before being granted his release, signing with the Braves, and ultimately being flipped to Anaheim in exchange for cash in late April. When he finally did arrive back in the Majors, the former closer enjoyed one of his most productive seasons and emerged as one of the Halos’ most dependable relievers.
In 36 1/3 innings with the Angels, Hernandez worked to a pristine 2.23 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent ground-ball rate. Hernandez benefited from his fair share of good fortune, namely in the sense that not a single fly-ball he allowed cleared the fence for a home run. Outside of that, however, his resurgence looked largely legitimate, and his former club, the Diamondbacks, saw fit to swing a trade to acquire him as they pushed for an NL Wild Card berth.
Things didn’t go quite as well for Hernandez in Arizona, as he logged a dismal 4.82 ERA, albeit with a terrific 15-to-1 K/BB ratio in 18 2/3 innings. Hernandez’s evasion of the long ball ran out in the desert, though, as he was tagged for four homers, helping to bloat his ERA despite generally more promising secondary metrics (4.09 xFIP, 3.62 SIERA).
[Related: Updated Cincinnati Reds depth chart & Cincinnati Reds payroll]
Overall, since returning from 2014 Tommy John surgery, Hernandez has been generally successful. An early stint as the Phillies’ closer in 2016 proved disastrous, but he rebounded with a strong finish to the season. Dating back to Opening Day 2015, he’s turned in a solid 3.68 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9 in 161 1/3 innings while playing most of his home games in hitter-friendly settings (Arizona’s Chase Field, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park).
Cincinnati’s closer role is locked down by emerging star Raisel Iglesias, but Hernandez will give manager Bryan Price an experienced arm to add to a setup corps that features Michael Lorenzen and fellow offseason signee Jared Hughes (who also inked a two-year pact in Cincinnati), as well as sophomore southpaw Wandy Peralta.
The two-year, $5MM term is an exact match (in terms of guaranteed money) with the contract to which fellow veteran Matt Albers agreed with the division-rival Brewers just yesterday. While the price is modest in nature, the contract does project the Reds to push slightly north of the $100MM threshold for what would be the fourth time in franchise history.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yes yes yes ! Keep the young arms as starters and let them develop in the minors. No more rushing.
0opoooo
AGREED!!
just as Micheal responded I am amazed that any body able to get paid $4334 in 4 weeks on the internet
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Awesome – can’t wait, where do I get season tix ??? Now we will go from losing 99 to 95
I was about to make a joke to my poker table mates at Foxwoods that the Red Sox made a huge signing, but then realized that the joke was actually on me because it was the Reds, and NATURALLY the Red Sox still haven’t done ANYTHING except for the re-signing of Mitch F. Moreland…
They’ve made the most important move of the offseason already: overhauling the coaching staff. They haven’t missed out on anybody yet, either. If they get JDM and Nunez I’ll be elated with their offseason. Hell, I’m fine with just Nunez.
The Sox desperately need a bigger bat than just Nunez to spark that lineup. The overall squad is still likely good enough to at least achieve moderate success, but it’s not exactly a lineup that a WS hopeful club should lean too heavily on.
I’m willing to agree to disagree on the narrative that the Red Sox desperately need offense. I’m fine betting on a change of approach via the manager and hitting coach and bounce back seasons from at least one or two of Ramirez, Pedroia, Bradley Jr who all are expected to be healthier to start the year than they played in 2017. Devers and Benintendi could be all the spark they need if they both leap forward. Honestly I’d rather bet on that and adjust mid season than to get tied into 5/125 on JDM. I’ll be happy either way.
I completely understand that sentiment, and it is entirely within the realm of possibility that all said cases spin towards the positive for the Sox, but there are very few bats that don’t need progression/bounce back seasons in order to succeed. That’s worrisome, I would think. But certainly the hypothetical you outlined is entirely possible and would certainly negate the need to spend big on a guy like JDM.
Yeah like I said I’m fine either way, JD would be a nice boom stick in the middle of our lineup if we signed him. If he can play half-passable defense in left for 1-2 years then become the full-time DH it shouldn’t be a terrible deal. Luckily the Red Sox play half their games at a field with a tiny LF that Manny Ramirez manned for two World Series winners.
Really I’m just happy they overhauled the coaching staff. For a team oozing with young talent they shouldn’t be so stiff and boring to watch. I’m hoping Cora will let them loosen up and have some personality the way Houston, New York, LA, Chicago all did last year.
Problems with your wishes are.Pedroia will be out the first part of the season,Ramirez will sulk if to many expectations are put on him,and Bradley JR is what he was last year
The BoSox should consider Chase Utley or Brandon Phillips to start the season at 2B until Justin Pedroia can take over full-time.
However, I suspect they will try Tzu-Wei Lin as a supersub. He was injured much of last season and he may surprise everyone in 2018.
While it sounds like you’d love to believe that, JBJ was injured last year and it affected his play. Bogaerts was injured. Pedroia will be out until May-June, but even he is ahead of schedule. I’ll cede that Hanley is unpredictable as they come, but there’s no arguing that he was awesome for them in 2016 and probably the third most important reason they went worst to first behind Betts and Porcello. Again, I think it’s reasonable to think that some, not all of Bogaerts, JBJ, Pedroia and Ramirez will bounce back. All four could. All four could just be terrible next year. I think the safe assumption is somewhere in between, meaning improvement as a whole.
Good signing Cincy!
Just what is the Reds plan, exactly? I mean, they should be rebuilding, but with Joey Votto entrenched there, they are mediocre to bad, and I just think they need to blow it up and start over.
They are pretty darn blowed up as is.
They have been rebuilding and have already blown it up. Votto has a NTC and will stay in CIN. This year they will be seeing which guys they will keep around and which ones they will be cutting loose. I think if the rotation is healthy the reds will have a much improved season
The Reds are a lot better than some people think. Defense and an explosive offense are real positives, so it’s just a matter of keeping the pitching staff healthy to reach 88-92 wins. They finished last season on a very high note, and there’s more talent on the way. By June, two legit ROY candidates added to an already deadly everyday lineup by….Senzel and Winker. The Reds are going to sneak up on everyone this season and will be one of the better stories of this year.
I don’t think they’ll win that many but will be better then the experts say. They have some exciting players down on the farm who should be graduating to the bigs over the next couple of years. Those being Nick Senzel,Taylor Trammel,Alfredo Rodriguez,and a sleeper in 2B Shed Long. The Reds are building a decent core and have more high picks this year. They did really well in last years draft Hunter Green will be a star and Jeter Downs could move rather quickly. They also have some great young arms already up,Amir Garret will figure it out and should dominate.
Those are exactly my thoughts. Barring another horrible string of injuries, the Reds are going to surprise some folks.
Well, if they could trade Votto, I think they would, but because of his NTC, and how many times he’s said he wants to be a Red for the rest of his career, there’s no point in looking for a trade, when you know Votto will just veto any of the trades he is involved in.
I think the Reds are in a good position right now to compete in 2019 and especially 2020. Mesoraco will be coming off the payroll next season, and Homer Bailey the following year. That will give the Reds some money to sign a couple free agents and fill some holes. They have a lot of young talent. It’ll be interesting to see who matures this season. I think the Reds will do well to keep Raisel Iglesias because I think they’ll be competing before he’s a free agent. I do think they should try to move Adam Duvall to make room for Jesse Winker (or possibly even Nick Senzel if he moves to the OF). I think the Reds should hang onto Billy Hamilton until they feel they have a decent replacement or if they have no intention to re-sign him. I’m curious what he would cost. I think he’s worth keeping just based on defense and the bags alone. If he could somehow get his OBP to .340ish, he’d be great.
Most accurate post I’ve heard in a while. Nothing I can disagree with.
Good post, but I think they should move Schebler. Duvall will be a big contributor to the next good Reds team and he’s not eligible to be a free agent until the end of the 2021 season. I think the Reds have a real good shot at being around .500 in 2018, and if the pitchers develop (and/or get some help in a couple deals – like Scheb) they could definitely compete in 2019 or 2020.
They don’t need to get rid of Duvall, they need his right-handed thump until someone else is ready. Replacing Schebler with Winker (both lefties) makes much more sense.
I love to watch Shebler – likes him from start of the trade. I think he will end up a very serviceable player.
I agree on Hamilton. One of the 4 outfielders will likely see time at 1B if Votto is injured(age). I doubt it would be Hamilton. They could rest Votto on occasion as well.
It’s like people don’t like him cause his face just makes u mad and keep trading/cutting him, even though he typically is a serviceable bullpen piece.
2019? Great farm system. If the young guys meet expectations and stay healthy.
Prospects just need to live up to their hype and pitchers like Garrett need to take the next step and the Reds aren’t all that far away from competing, although that’s a lot to ask. At least we’ve developed some depth and I really like these bullpen additions adding much needed MLB experience to a young group. I just hope Garrett isn’t one that’s bound to the bullpen this year like Price said a few would be. If he controls his pitch count he could be a great #3 type guy, I think. Excited to see what Mahle can do this year and beyond.
As the article stated, Hernandez is inconsistent, as are many relief pitchers.
He’s pretty much had one bad year and that was 2013. Other than that he’s been pretty consistent.
Any serious discussion of this issues would look at median salary. Of the 1200 players represented by MLBPA the median salary is a bit over the minimum salary. 25% of players get FA money, 30% arb salaries, and 45% MLB minimum and/or 40 man minor league pay (for many its a combination).
The median MLB career is less than 4 years so many players dont get a taste of even arb pay, and almost anyone signed out of HS or earlier which is at least half have toiled in the minors at McDonalds wages for up to 5 years, while college players put in a couple at least before getting added to the 40 man. Some may have had a decent bonus, a minority, but fewer good bonuses are given today under the new rules
Also, compared to owners who pay taxes on profits and capital gains players pay far more of their income on taxes. Owners have property and assets worth 50 billion (while paying less than 10 billion for their teams) and teams that collectively generate 10 billion in income pay less than half taxes than the players do at 4 billion. In fact many owners get tax subsidies and tax credits for stadiums, renovations and property taxes so who knows what the real numbers look like
As for the players who no doubt make big bucks, remember this. They are the elite of the elite. The top 0.01% at their profession if you include all players at a draftable/signing age. Anyone in the private sector at the top 0.01% of their profession is making a killing and making as much money or more for much longer periods of time. An MLB player , even the elite ones , is considered washed up at 35. They need to be paid well for the brief time they can offer their services on the free market. A period that has been shrunk considerably by owner collusion
periods
Its clear owners have the better deal and players should be doing far better. I’d rather see focus on increasing average pay by reducing the income inequality so younger players get more. Perhaps limiting guaranteed to 5 years in return. Longer contracts allowed but those years can be bought out at 10% at any time