Braves Release Livan Hernandez

As a baseball fan, you might say it’s seldom a good time to talk about Livan Hernandez. Livan Hernandez is by no means new, fresh, or exciting, and he’s not very good, and there are just so many things about baseball that are more interesting than Livan Hernandez is. Who among you wants to be reading about Livan Hernandez right now?

Livan has some things going for him, but perhaps most notably, he’s among the very best in baseball at expanding the strike zone. You’ve probably heard this before, but you might not appreciate the magnitude of Livan’s influence. I ran a study of strikes versus expected strikes based on the PITCHf/x strike zone a few weeks ago, and since 2008, Livan has generated 22 more strikes than expected per 1,000 pitches. That’s the fourth-highest rate out of the 509-pitcher sample, and the two guys directly in front of him had somewhat limited playing time.

In January of this year, Livan Hernandez signed a contract with the Houston Astros. In March of this year, Livan Hernandez was dumped by the Houston Astros, and added by the Atlanta Braves. In June of this year -- today! -- Livan Hernandez has been dumped by the Atlanta Braves. Rough year for Livan Hernandez, or, popular year for Livan Hernandez.

Hernandez had been working as a long man in the bullpen, and in his most recent go, he retired five batters and allowed five runs. In his previous appearance, he retired nine batters and allowed four runs. For the season, his ERA stands at 4.94 and he’s got nearly five times as many strikeouts as unintentional walks, but Livan Hernandez is Livan Hernandez forever and always, and now the Braves are going younger.

I think the instinctive response to the name “Livan Hernandez” is a little unfair to Livan Hernandez. He’s 37, yes, and he’s fat, and he doesn’t get strikeouts, and he throws all slow-like, but he’s actually still somewhat effective. He has a 98 ERA+ over the last two seasons. He has a 90 ERA+ over the last three seasons, and an 84 ERA+ over the last four seasons, but we care more about recency, and Livan isn’t a disaster.

Which is why Talking Chop is okay with his signing with the Atlanta Braves:

Yeah. The Atlanta Braves, who entered the off-season with what seemed too many starting pitchers, have reportedly signed, or are close to signing, 37-year-old Livan Hernandez, who washed out with the Houston Astros.

Just to review, last season the Braves won 89 games and the Astros lost 106. Also, the Astros have moved one of their best starting pitchers from last season to the bullpen this season. Yet still they couldn’t find room in their rotation for Livan Hernandez.

But it still has to sting a little when a team that lost more than 100 games last year -- and could do so again this year -- releases you. So it goes for Livan Hernandez:

But if the Astros don’t want you, well, there probably aren’t a whole lot of options. You never know what injuries will pop up early in the season, so Livan might not be done. But the odds of him being in a major-league rotation just went way, way down. And it’s kind of a shame, really. There are a lot of guys pitching in the majors, but there isn’t anyone who does it quite like Livan Hernandez these days, for better or for worse.