Mets re-sign Orlando Hernandez for two years and $12 million, through an age known only to his Maker. This, like the Valentin signing, seems to be a signing a bit like the Kris Benson deal, driven more by fear of the market and complacency with 2006 than a cold-eyed analysis of the future. Of course, Omar Minaya is blunt about the fact that the second year was the price of the first:
“The way the marketplace is, I didn’t think it would be realistic to sign Orlando Hernandez for one year. He stays in shape. He’s a hard worker. If you wanted to get him, you were going to give him two years.”
Yeah, I like El Duque too, and he can still pitch. But he’s also a 41-or-so-year-old pitcher with a checkered record for durability, who was signed for the purpose of pitching in the playoffs and then pulled up lame and missed them, and who posted a 4.66 ERA in the regular season. That may well be a pitcher worth bringing back, but for twelve million dollars?