Bonus points for the Elton John reference.  I’ve always wondered why that hasn’t become a meme that follows Livan wherever he goes.  Life can be so disappointing sometimes.

Not that I want to be in the business of defending Livan Hernandez, but releasing Freddy Garcia isn’t that indefensible.  Over the last 2 years, he has averaged 36.5 IP with a 5.55 ERA and an average fastball velocity now below 89 mph.  Garcia isn’t the answer either.

Thanks, Sal, for pointing out the Elton John reference:  I had missed it.

Yeah, Livan Hernandez is a terrible pitcher, but most 5th starters are.  Hernandez has a CHONE projection for a 5.25 ERA, I believe, which is pretty average for a #5.  That doesn’t mean the Mets couldn’t try to do better than Hernandez, but who is both better and available? 

Pedro?  He’s projected to be a bit better at 4.97, but I wouldn’t pay $5 mil guaranteed for 75 IP.  Niese would probably be a better choice, but he hasn’t really done anything to help himself this spring (6 ER in 8 IP).  He won’t crack the rotation because the Mets hate rookies.

MOST LOSSES: Livan Hernandez (112), but Javier Vazquez is six back if Livan doesn’t find work.

MOST HITS ALLOWED: Livan Hernandez (2,230), meaning Livan has given up 500 more hits in the ‘00s than Derek Jeter has gotten.

MOST RUNS ALLOWED: Livan again (1,053), which means the only player in baseball who has scored more runs in the ‘00s than Hernandez has allowed is A-Rod (1,112).

Every time this guy pitches, Mets fans are going to wish they could take a balloon and go sailing…

“The guy has not been even average over the course of a season since 2005,”
That’s not really fair.  He had an ERA+ of 95 in 2007.  That makes him an average starting pitcher. (Since relievers have better ERAs overall, an average starter ERA+ is 96). I guess you could claim that 95 is below 96, but that creates an absurdly small window for average performance.  (Not to mention it misses that 96.6% of his runs allowed were earned that year).