The Dodgers announced the acquisition of lefty reliever Jose Hernandez from the Pirates for cash. Los Angeles transferred Ryan Brasier to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Pittsburgh designated Hernandez for assignment earlier in the week when they claimed Dennis Santana off waivers.
Los Angeles took that opportunity to bring Hernandez back to his original organization. The Dodgers signed the Dominican-born southpaw as an amateur in May 2016. Hernandez spent the next six-plus seasons in the L.A. farm system, topping out at Double-A Tulsa. He tallied plenty of punchouts in the low minors but never consistently found the strike zone. The Dodgers left him off their 40-man roster at the end of the 2022 season, allowing other clubs to take a flier in the Rule 5 draft.
Pittsburgh selected Hernandez with the third Rule 5 pick that December (behind Thaddeus Ward and another former Dodger farmhand, Ryan Noda). The Bucs secured his long-term contractual rights by carrying him in the MLB bullpen for all of last season. Hernandez showed the ability to miss bats at the MLB level, fanning 27.8% of opposing hitters behind a 12.5% swinging strike rate. He walked just under 10% of batters faced and surrendered nine homers in 50 2/3 innings, leading to a 4.97 earned run average.
The Pirates gained the right to option Hernandez to the minors after his first MLB campaign. They shuttled him between Pittsburgh and Triple-A Indianapolis for the season’s first couple months. Hernandez tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts and walks apiece at the big league level. He has been tagged for 12 runs over 15 1/3 Triple-A frames despite punching out 21 of the 75 hitters he’s faced (a solid 28% rate).
It was moderately surprising to see the Bucs move on from Hernandez not long after they satisfied the Rule 5 requirements. His velocity has been slightly down, perhaps contributing to the move. As a rookie, Hernandez averaged 82.9 MPH on his slider (which he uses as his primary pitch) and 94.6 MPH on his fastball. Those speeds were respectively at 81.6 MPH and 93.1 MPH during his major league work this year.
Hernandez has just over one year of service and is in his first of three minor league option years. The Dodgers can keep him in Triple-A Oklahoma City for the foreseeable future if he holds his 40-man roster spot.
The team essentially had an open roster spot thanks to Brasier’s injury. The veteran righty has been out since April 28 after suffering a significant strain of his right calf. He has yet to begin a minor league rehab stint. Brasier will be eligible for reinstatement two weeks from now — the 60-day minimum is backdated to his initial IL placement — but it’s not clear if he’ll be ready by that point.
Hernandez showed some promise in the first half of last year, but has struggled since then.
In an earlier article here, it was mentioned that his velocity has dropped 1 mph on both the fastball and slider. That makes him more hittable.
It hasn’t dropped by just one MPH, it’s dropped by nearly three MPH (that is in his last outing).
Are the Dodgers trying to save some money on Hernández jerseys? They have Teoscar Hernández, Kiki Hernández, just DFAed E Hernández and now acquiring Jose.
Need to hire Angel
Feels like the Pirates are about to go and get a bat. Not an all star, probably a rebound candidate.
You got that from a meaningless trade of a lefty reliever?
Actually all the other maneuvering that included DFAing Hernandez. They are rearranging the MLB and AAA rosters. Means they and other teams doing the same things are preparing to shop.
You have active imaginations. These moves mean absolutely nothing. They give guys a shot, if they can’t improve them they give someone else a shot. If someone better comes along they give them a shot. Most of the real trade action is over a month away. Majority of buyers will be parting with non mlb talent. Non AAA talent. Some sellers haven’t even figured out if they are sellers yet. A lot can happen between now and end of July. Other than a few teams with a few players who if someone really makes a heck of a offer there isn’t much to discuss with trades. Can’t plan for it. Come on now. This is the Pirates. Planning? They traded Santana and had to take this Rivas guy back so they could have a 1b. Traded Anderson. I hope their plan wasn’t to do bullpen games 3x a week. Yeah they don’t plan things out months ahead. If Tim Hills arm isn’t ready to fall off they may trade for him. No master planning though. Just someone who is better than they have.
Anderson? As in Tyler Anderson, who was traded away in 2021? That’s who you’re referencing?
Enjoyed Starkey’s column in today’s PG that largely said the same thing
Yeah, the Cubs are being linked to guys like the Mets’ Alonso and Jays’ Guerrero. The Brewers and Cardinals are looking to make moves. The Pirates? Guys who have long passed their productive years, no doubt.
A joke of a franchise
unfortunately, the joke is on the decades long fans like you, Tired and me, that have been waiting for 40+ years to enjoy another championship from this franchise only to be repeatedly disappointed by the incompetence of the revolving management
This pathetic excuse for a major league team mustered a whole 6 hits yesterday against a pitching staff that is collectively the oldest in baseball, all singles, while giving the day off to whose been arguably their best hitter since being recalled from Indy, Nick Gonzalez
Forget bullpen games. When your starting lineup can’t produce enough runs to win, it doesn’t matter who is pitching
If the Cubs are linked with Alonso it’s because they are okay with a rental. You give up the farm for ONE dude for like 50 plus games? You’d better win.
If you are okay with the Bucs giving up 3 top prospects for Alonso while also knowing BOB ain’t going to sign him long term then we pretty much deserve a perennially losing team.
we already have a perennial losing team even with the prospects that eventually get promoted.
Like Tiredolderdude said in another comment, name the last homegrown talent that was developed into a major league superstar
Under the current regime
The only player who might hold that accomplishment is Nick Gonzalez and he’s only in his second season with the parent club
Everyone else has regressed from last year that made it to the majors
Yeah, I get the idea of rental and your concern is right on target
Here’s the problem where the Pirates are concerned. They have 3 stud pitchers and will hopefully round out what has to be considered a premiere staff before next season
And they have no semblance of an offense behind them. No homer guys. No rbi guys. No guys who hit for average. And best of all, nothing coming through the minors.
So what to do?
The only logical move for a team that realizes they have the ability to contend and win short series is to either sign an upper tier free agent or two this off season OR trade for a guy or two who are under contract and not rentals
Like I said, your points are well taken. Now, they are already a perennially losing team but I’d love to hear how they’ll turn it around given their present SOP’s
Maybe we can all click our heels together three times and the good fairy will make all these guys hitters
or we could wait for the next rebuild and hope that in 3 years, these pitchers haven’t needed TJ surgery
Paul Zeilse of the Post Gazette this afternoon said that their was no urgency from Shelton to win the rubber game against the Cardinals yesterday
5 of the starters in the lineup were batting below .215 while Cutch, Joe and Gonzalez rode the bench
Another disappointment from the manager of this team
He loves to rest his players even the young ones. They have all fall and winter to rest since his managing will never have them playing beyond the regular season.
The ghost of Bobby Bonilla told me
Jake Meyers? Jose Abreu? Jon Singleton?
yeah, probably another Jack Suwinski clone who strikes out more often than he puts the ball in play
speaking of strikeouts and Suwinski, since his recall from Indy on June 4, he’s struck out in 56% of his plate appearances
Yet, Shelton keeps writing his name in the lineup instead of sending him back and bringing up Gorski to give him an opportunity
He couldn’t be any worse
Shelton isn’t the reason why Gorski is in AAA. You know he’s not on the 40 man and no team thought he was worth the Rule 5 pick.
And I like Gorski. Have seen him play many times. Hes a legit athlete but has a big OBP problem.
“ he has a big OBP problem “
as does Suwinski and Taylor and each play on the parent club
I think that’s the thing here, angus. Half of their lineup is hitting at or below the Mendoza Line. It makes the idea of Gorski or Lamb coming up look like attractive alternatives. I mean, they can’t be any worse
Why would they trade a decent reliever at this point of the season for cash? He had options I believe
He’s not a decent reliever. He’s awful. Why trade for cash?…. because Skenes is going to get ROY votes and the Bucs have to pay him extra salary if that happens
He’s awful? Hardly. He’s a kid they gave up on in favor or a lot of trash they pick up from other teams and insert into their middle relief plan. Kid had a lot of upside and like a lot of pitchers will likely excel after leaving this pathetic franchise and in his case, returning to the Dodgers
Unfortunately, I agree.
that’s what this organization does, it gives up on players who have potential instead of determining the cause of the problem and working to fix it
Player development in this organization is one of the worst in baseball
as evidence look at all of the players that have regressed from lack year while nothing is being done to improve their performance
Nothing improves player performance more than the players performing. No coach is going to flip a switch and get Jack to not look at strike 3. It’s on him.
if he doesn’t know the strike zone, either teach him or stop writing his name in the lineup card
Jack’s 2024 performance has been horrendous so far
27 hits in 174 plate appearances including a whole 5 homers and a phenomenal 15 rbi
He’s supposed to be the team’s power hitter
Keep making excuses for him, he’s unlikely to improve no matter how much they play him
He never had a lot of upside. His upside was maybe a solid middle reliever. He was never ranked as a top 30 prospect in the LA Dodgers system by any rankings. MLB Pipeline, nor Baseball America had him in their top 30, and FanGraphs ranked him as their 44th best prospect. He also was not a part of the Pirates’ top 30 on MLB Pipeline or BA after the Pirates acquired him in the Rule 5 draft, and was 24th on FanGraphs’ top Pirates prospect list.
Once again, you rely on stats and stat sites to form an opinion. I’m not going to be snarky with you but sheesh, you once again throw out gobblety-gook and tell me not to believe my eyes. Maybe if I was a 20-something whose experience was in T-ball, it would have more impact
The kid threw hard here. Pity that once again, no one within the organization could develop him but that’s nothing new. This is a place where careers of young players either die or take a nice vacation
What stat gobblety-gook did I throw out that made so you so confused? ERA? I thought that was pretty simple. Idk what your eyes are telling you, but you might want to get them checked. He wasn’t throwing that hard, sitting 94.6 MPH in 2023, which is about the league average for relievers in 2023. His fastball was okay, but not great, and his slider was good, but lacked command.
Have you ever considered your eyes can play tricks on you, or your eyes don’t see something many others do? If your eyes tell you the guy with a 6.75 ERA, 2.25 home runs per-9 innings, and 14.1% walk rate since June of last year is good, then maybe you need to question your eyes, not the stats.
mlb1225, that’s the difference between us. You see things from a statistical vantage point to determine your judgment but we’re arguing semantics here.
Again, strictly on his ability and not his appearances, the guy has shown electric stuff. And I’ll grant you that his in-game performance this season as opposed to his outings after his arrival reflect a fall-off. But where I depart with you is in the development.
It’s simply not happening here
Someone mentioned Glasnow on this thread. Yes, different regime but same idea
I’ll remind you when Hernandez becomes a valuable part of the Dodgers middle relief staff
And again, they have a number of other young middle relievers who are similar in that they are often inconsistent and erratic with control. Yes, Nicolas comes to mind
There’s no denying the numbers you put forth here but the question is, why do young players stagnate here?
As for my eyes, you’re not being snarky are you. I grew up on a ball field, was a pitcher, coached pitchers.
Please know that when I say a guy is “electric” it refers to his abilities and nothing more.
Hernandez had the opportunity to go out and stick with the team. He didn’t and that’s on him. But the question I have about player development here—where pitchers OR position players are concerned—remains
Only thing decent about him is his salary and team control. If any team thought he he was decent the pirates would be getting a prospect instead of cash. Dodgers know him well and might be able to get him decent or better. Pirates had their chance and failed.
“ the Pirates had their chance and failed “
This should be written as a headline in every article of this franchise
Complete baloney
This is again reflective of what a horrible GM Cherington has been here. His signings and trades are one thing. Horrible. His player development and scouting departments another. Abysmal. Completely abysmal
They didn’t develop Skenes or Jones. They came ready made. Same with Bednar
Quick….name one player this franchise has had in their minors and have developed into “star” status.
I’ll wait
The Pirates now have a load of young players who are stagnating. No signs of improvement. None
So the solution is, give up on them and take on other teams’ trash
Not to be forgotten, Cherington’s decision to immediately hire Andy Haines as the hitting coach right after the Brewers fired him.
Haines’ tenure as hitting coach for the Brewers made their team one of the worst in the national league
Which he’s done for the Bucs since being hired here
They absolutely DID develop Jones. Skenes I agree with you.
And Glasnow is a star that was poorly developed by the last regime into being a “pitch to contact” abomination.
Jones didn’t need developing, he was a natural talent who just needed to mature as a pitcher
Angus, by all accounts Jones was throwing in the 90’s in high school in socal. Cmon now. Drafting stud pitchers is great. You get to refine them in your organization. Drafting position players like Davis or Gonzales is a different story. So much more goes into it
Glasnow is a good example of the failure of the previous regime’s development program. But so was Charlie Morton. And Jameson Taillon. And in terms of being a complete pitcher, Garrett Cole.
Jared Jones was drafted out of high school in 2020 pandemic year and was really inconsistent his first year and a half to two years in pro ball. The Pirates absolutely developed him.
actually he didn’t become a complete pitcher until this year, his first in the majors
And with raw talent he didn’t need to be developed, just experience pitching against professional hitters
Skenes was drafted out of college. A finished product, for the most part
Jones was drafted out of high school, still a kid. In his second year in the franchise, he struck out 142 in 122 innings. Last year it was 146 in 126 innings
He came to the Pirates with a great deal of heat, as witnessed by his first year with the organization (you can check his stats)
No, he wasn’t the polished product Skenes was and I’ll grant you the idea that the Pirates played a role in his maturation as they did with Keller. Keller is on that threshold of stardom, granted. Jones has a ways to go and we just hope
Now name me a position player they’ve developed into a star player—all around
Damn. Jose Hernandez still plays? And he re-emerged as a relief pitcher plus he doubles as a coach for Baltimore.
Dodgers signing all the Hernandez. Next up is Angel….
LA on pace to merry-go-roster 125 RPs in 2024
Great! Another RP for Roberts to mismanage.
@ Fox471 Not to confuse you with actual facts as opposed to your uninformed opinion, but LAD has the 4th best bullpen stats in MLB behind Yanks, Phils, and O’s. Coincidently the 4 teams with best W-L records.
statmuse.com/mlb/ask/bullpen-era-rankings-mlb-team…
check out Cleveland’s W-L record Moj!
Point taken Brew. Mea culpa. The Guards record is stellar. My point about bullpen stats stands however.
I notice this most years. Winning teams have excellent pens.
Yeah, it’s wonder how Roberts keeps his job when he stubbornly refuses to play the Friedman roster or implement the Friedman game plan.
Oh, wait.
Don’t they already have a bad fielding Shortstop?
I hope Brasier gets all the support he needs while he is injured.
Dodgers lead the league in Hernandezes.
We like to call them Hernandi.
Dodgers published injury report on Brasier is that the the strain is mild. Funny, that.
Strained ERA.
I don’t get why he was DFA’d when guys like Daulton Jeffries and Josh Palacios are taking up 40 man spots. Hernandez still has minor league options.
Palacios was the only OF in the minors with a fair amount of ML experience on the 40-man until they picked up Goodrum. I think each gets a call in a different injury scenario.
It was clear that the Pirates lost faith in Hernandez returning to form from the first half of 2023, even though he wasn’t given much of a leash. The Pirates are using Jeffries as a starter in Indy and getting him stretched out for at least a multi-inning role, which is something I don’t think Hernandez was really capable of. Granted, the results are not pretty, but neither were Hernandez’s.
Cash makes total sense in this case because the draft and deadline are both right around the corner. They’re going to need probably eat the contracts of both Taylor and Tellez if they make upgrades – and having the financial flexibility to do so makes total sense for a player who you’ve pretty much given up on.
Again, it’s a testament to the worthlessness of their development department.
Hernandez was electric when he got here. Unfortunately, between being a frequent passenger on the Indy shuttle and getting a few opportunities here, apparently no one could right the kid. Like Contreras
Here’s a prediction. Nicolas is hitting 99 on the gun but is incredibly erratic. I’m guessing that even though he has real talent and ability, the Pirates will throw their hands up on him eventually, as well
Was he? He was good for two months, but I would not have catergorized those two months as ‘eletric’. He has an ERA approaching 7.00, allowing over two home runs every nine innings because he has a 14.4% barrel raet. Two solid months is better than what 90% of Rule 5 picks amount to.
Don’t know that I categorized his outings as electric but rather, his heat. Nicolas right now is electric too, probably more so. But he’s erratic too and yes, probably more so
So the Pirates get young guys with live arms—heat—electric—-but there is no one here who can teach them how to pitch.
Skenes. Jones. Keller to an extent. Guys who come ready made and just need refinement, no problem
Again, name one position player who has come up through the Pirates system in the past five years and is a solid star player. Just one. I understand Cherington has been here for only a percentage of that time but his develpment people have done nothing
And please. Don’t tell me Hayes. Or Cruz. Or Suwinski.
Unfortunately, there are none, tiredolderdude
The jury is still out on Davis and while Gonzalez has been this team’s best hitter since his recall, Haines hasn’t had a chance to mess with his swing yet
Bae can’t stay healthy enough to grade yet
And this is Cherington’s 4th year, he’s had plenty of time to develop position players into major leaguers
Palacios was a feel good story last year. Had a brother in the bigs. Hit a couple big homers. Had a zest for the game and a personality. Shame he got buried in the minors. Last I looked, he was hitting in the .230’s
tonight’s game should be interesting, another infamous Shelton bullpen game
With the daily strike out hitters in the lineup
an average in the .230 range would be higher than 5 of those who started in last night’s game
Can he hit? This team is absolute dookie right now.
Hernandez number four this year for Dodgers