Orioles sign Ramon Hernandez

[Pierzynski 12]

The Baltimore Orioles and catcher Ramon Hernandez reached a preliminary agreement on a $27.25 million, four-year contract.

 

Hernandez hit .290 with 12 home runs and 58 RBI with the San Diego Padres in 2005. The Orioles' 2005 catcher Javy Lopez hit .278 with 15 home runs and 59 RBI.

 

The deal is subject to a physical and probably won't be finalized until next week.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2252475

[White Sox Josh]

WTF? They already have Javy Lopez who is one of the best catchers in baseball.

[Rowand44]

WTF?  They already have Javy Lopez who is one of the best catchers in baseball.

He'll dh. Got to love the O's though, they can't pitch so of course they add more hitting.

[White Sox Josh]

He'll dh.  Got to love the O's though, they can't pitch so of course they add more hitting.

i would rather have Javy catch. He is MUCH BETTER at handling a pitching staff. I think you can credit some of the success of the Braves pitching staff to him being the catcher.

[Balta1701]

i would rather have Javy catch.  He is MUCH BETTER at handling a pitching staff.  I think you can credit some of the success of the Braves pitching staff to him being the catcher.

I would say that the identity of the person behind the plate should probably depend on which one of them can stay healthy. Both have had severe injury issues in recent years. It might not be a bad idea to have each of them catch for 81 games, and DH for a significant portion of the other ones.

[whitesoxfan101]

Orioles again spending money just for the sake of spending money. Angelos is such a clown.....

 

Writing was on the wall though for Hernandez to be signing somewhere other than San Diego imminently with that baffling move by the Padres to dump Loretta for Doug freaking Mirabelli.

[nitetrain8601]

i would rather have Javy catch.  He is MUCH BETTER at handling a pitching staff.  I think you can credit some of the success of the Braves pitching staff to him being the catcher.

 

Actually, I heard Javy isn't that great at calling games at all which is why the Braves let him go and which is why Maddux didn't want him as his catcher.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Maybe one of thse years they'll get a pitcher. They make a defensive upgrade here but Javy is a great hitting catcher, while at 1B-DH he's more of a middle of the pack bat or not even

[White Sox Josh]

Actually, I heard Javy isn't that great at calling games at all which is why the Braves let him go and which is why Maddux didn't want him as his catcher.

Actually a lot of that was thanks to Bobby Cox. He chose Maddux for no reason however his intention was so that Javy could get a day off every 5 days. That way he would hit better. Johnny Estrada did the same thing except he didn't catch Smoltz this year. The Braves let him go because he would've been "expensive" and that they had Estrada ready.