From the World of D'OH!

By now, there's a good chance you've heard that the Twins have signed Livan Hernandez to a one year, $5 million deal. Don't get me wrong -- I see the potential upside in this deal. Hernandez is a much better pitcher than Ramon Ortiz or Sidney Ponson. He pitches a lot of innings. He's the kind of veteran mentor that the team was lacking after the departures of Johan Santana and Carlos Silva.

However, I am still incredibly dissatisfied with this signing, and will be almost regardless of how Hernandez pitches. My disappointment with the signing has nothing to do with Hernandez himself, but instead with the use of the roster. The Twins are not in a position to make it to the post-season this year. The starting pitching needs time to develop. Further, Livan Hernandez isn't going to change the Twins chances of making the post-season -- he's not likely to pitch better than some of the Twins younger options. Instead, he's going to succeed in putting up an ERA somewhere between 4.50 and 5.00, pitching 200+ innings that could have gone to younger players who need the Major League time to develop.

If this sounds a bit different than my position last year with Ortiz and Ponson, it's because circumstances have changed. Guys like Baker, Bonser, and Slowey are all a year older and all clearly belong at the big league level, as does Glen Perkins. Nick Blackburn, Brian Duensing, and Phil Humber could all use a little more time in AAA -- but with Francisco Liriano in the mix, the Twins already have more players ready for the big leagues than they have available spots on the roster. Livan Hernandez just messes that whole situation up, taking time away from deserving youngsters.

I could go on, but I don't think there's a need. I like the majority of what Bill Smith has done in his short tenure as Twins GM. This move, not so much.

One last note -- the Twins roster is full, which means someone will have to be removed from the roster in order to make room for Hernandez. My guess is that it will be OF Darnell McDonald, who doesn't really make sense on the roster anyway. I'll update this post once an announcement regarding the roster is made.