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The Phillies added a starting pitcher today, signing 33-year-old RHP Roberto Hernandez. No details of the contract yet, but given that he's a warm body who throws a baseball for a living, I'm betting it's for multiple years and 8 figures. Let's just hope the 8 figures start with a 1 and not anything higher.
As for Hernandez, he's had two pretty good years as a pitcher. The problem is that he's had 6 other years and the two good years were 2007 and 2010. In 2014, he'll turn 34 in August, which may actually bring down the average age of the Phillies.
Hernandez's good years (when he was named Fausto Carmona) earned him fourth place in the Cy Young voting in 2007 and an All-Star Team spot in 2010. He had a 3.7 fWAR in 2007 and a 2.4 fWAR in 2010.
The problem is that in his other years, he was right around replacement level, ranging from -0.3 to 0.9 fWAR. His peripherals aren't that good, which isn't surprising given those numbers. For his career, he's got a 5.6 K/9 compared to a 3.3 BB/9. A possible good sign is that last year with the Rays those numbers were better - 6.7 K/9 compared to 2.3 BB/9.
More coverage of course as we get more information and have more time to process, but my immediate reaction is that this is another uninspiring move in an off-season filled with them for the Phillies, especially watching the Nationals steal Doug Fister and the Mets sign Bartolo Colon to a reasonable deal. If Ruben Amaro's goal this off-season is to turn away fans, he's doing a great job of it.