Allow me to Reintroduce Myself, My Name is Rob! R to the O-B!

Same guy, same number, different name.
Roberto Hernandez—What if?
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

When Roberto Hernandez was arrested in January for identity fraud, I made the joke that his two names represented the internal battle he always seemed to face—the good Fausto vs the bad Fausto. And I thought, wow, maybe when he was pitching well he was having a good day and felt he was able to conceal his identity well, and in a bad day—or bad year, like in 2009, or even 2011—the whole fraudulent identity thing may have been weighing on him.

But now that the cat's out of the bag, who knows what in the wide of sports the Indians are going to get out of Hernandez once he joins the club after his three week suspension.

First of all, how long is it going to take to get him ready to face major league hitters? Every report has said that Hernandez has been throwing 75-pitch simulated games in his native Dominican Republic. That's all well and good, but those simulated games aren't even against batters from Lake County. Also, 75 pitches really isn't that many for a starting pitcher. He'll need to be stretched out to a least 100 over the next three weeks in order to actually be ready to start for the big-league club.

But even with all that, I have a very bad feeling the Indians are going to see him as their mid-season acquisition of a starting pitcher, and then focus all their efforts on getting a bat. Is that the absolute worst thing that could happen? Well no, not exactly—especially if Hernandez pitches like "Carmona" did in 2007, or even 2010. I know Antonetti said in his press conference today that Hernandez's return doesn't really affect what the team is trying to do in the trade market, and Ken Rosenthal said today that the Indians are focusing their trading efforts on a starting pitcher, but based on this front office's track record, I just don't believe the Indians are going to acquire another starter. 

And the worst part is that it yet again comes down to "What if?" What if Hernandez can come back and be a quality starting pitcher for the last six weeks of the season?

What kind of garbage is that?

This is why every time the stupid "What if?" commercials come on the radio or television, I want to change the station. How much of this "What if?" crap are we as fans supposed to take? It's like this team is being put together on shoe strings and gum—not track records and actual efforts to tangibly improve the team.

I'm sorry, but right now this team is a game over .500, and anyone who thinks someone who hasn't pitched in a major league game in nearly a year is going to all of a sudden become a dominant starting pitcher in MLB—let alone the American League—probably needs their head examined.

You can't even tell me that Hernandez pitched well down the stretch last season, because he didn't. Sure he had a good July and August, but then went 1-3 with a 7.26 ERA in six starts in September and October. So really, this could be subtraction by addition. Is he really what this team needs at a point where it's 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot and 3.0 games out of the Central? And who knows where we'll be in three weeks when he's eligible to pitch for the team.

That sort of sounds like I'm saying the Indians may have been better off with Hernandez staying in the Dominican Republic, but it's honestly not. I actually think the Tribe should put him in the bullpen and go from there.

If you recall "Carmona's" rookie year of 2006, he enjoyed a stretch of about two and a half months as the Indians' setup man, and was pretty darn effective as a reliever. Then the Indians traded Bob Wickman and tried to make "Carmona" the closer, an experiment that turned out to be an unmitigated disaster.

But the point is, as a middle-reliever and setup man, Carmona was great. And since everyone in the bullpen not named Rogers, Smith, Pestano, or Perez has been completely unreliable, I think it would be wise to put Hernandez back there. Let's let those who have been starting all season long do that job if we need a rotation replacement—those like Jenmar Gomez or Corey Kluber in AAA, or someone acquired from a trade.

To me, "What if Roberto Hernandez pitches well in the starting rotation for six weeks?" just isn't the type of question an organization serious about winning a division or wild card spot should ask its fans.

~MAS

Prince Fielder to the Tigers? Son of a—What do we do now?

Honestly, if you're an Indians fan, how can you have any other reaction? We just half-celebrated at the news that beloved former Indian Victor Martinez (who I will always remember how for literally being in tears after being traded from the Tribe to the Red Sox in '09. One of my all-time favorite Indians, definitely top 3) would be out all year with a torn ACL, and then we get this?!

Before you ask, "Did you really expect the Indians to be sign Prince Fielder?" my answer is absolutely not!

But I also didn't think he'd be showing up to work for the next nine years to put on a Tigers uniform, and that we'd have to pitch to him for 17 or 18 games a year.

Is that contract awful? Absolutely yes. Just as I thought about the Albert Pujols contract, nine years and $214 million is just absolutely ridiculous. How can you as an organization believe that you're going to get anything near the same kind of player at the end of that contract? Do you really want to be paying an aging star player probably $10 million more than he's worth at the end of that deal?

Probably not.

But this isn't to talk about how the Tigers will regret this contract in maybe six years. Right now this deal hurts the Indians. Badly.

And again, it's not even that I wanted Prince Fielder—although his fat self would have looked really great manning first base, I know that's completely unrealistic. But when it comes down to it, the Tigers made a hugely aggressive move in free agency to solidify themselves as the frontrunner in the AL Central for years to come. And what have the Indians done?

Well, when Fausto Carmona was revealed to be Roberto Hernandez Heredia, they traded for Kevin Slowey. And yes, I know they said they've liked Slowey for a while, but give me a freaking break, you and I both know they traded for him so swiftly because they needed depth after "Carmona" was officially out of the equation.

You see that, when the Tigers lose one of their key players, they sign someone who could have more of an impact. When the Indians lose one of their key pieces...well, they get someone who has had success in the AL Central, and has some upside, but didn't even win a game last season.

It's a damn shame, isn't it?

So here's where we are—"Carmona" is on the restricted list, which means that he doesn't count on the 25 or 40 man roster, and also doesn't get a paycheck until he reports to the organization. Based on everything I've read, that probably won't be in time for Spring Training, as the process for a visa application can take months. So what do we do?

I'll say this, the answer is not Kevin Slowey.

However, there is a player on the market named Roy Oswalt. Before you get into it about how much more expensive he is, let me just throw out a few numbers.

Because "Carmona" doesn't get paid until he shows up, if he doesn't show up at all this season, the Indians will save $7 million. Now, we've increased payroll by about $18 million just on our own players so far this offseason—and of course those depth minor league contracts. All that is well and good, but if the Dolans are going to spend when the time is right, well, the time is right now.

Oswalt will apparently look for about $7-8 million in a one year deal. I say if you shell out $16-17 million for two years for this guy, and why wouldn't he want to come here?

Even though he had a year that was fairly ravaged by injuries last season, he still made 23 starts for the Phillies going 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA. Okay, so record and ERA aren't all that they used to be with sabermetrics, and Oswalt's WHIP (Walks+Hits per Inning Pitched) was a career high 1.338, and his K/9 ratio (strike outs per nine innings) was a career low 6.0, but Oswalt has proven in the past that he's extremely durable.

The only thing holding back the Dolans from an aggressive move like this is outlined in this tweet from 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter.

The #Indians spent $111 million between Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner & Kerry Wood - and nothing to show for it
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) January 24, 2012

So yes, the fact of the matter is the Dolans have poorly spent in the past, but if they're serious about contending, they've got to put the best rotation possible out there—especially if they want to beat the Tigers.

I have about no faith that Ubaldo is going to pitch any better against the Tigers this year—he had 6.35 ERA against them in five starts last season—so doesn't a top three of the rotation in Masterson, Oswalt and Tomlin sound really great?

Here's hoping the Dolans stop handcuffing Indians President Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti and allow them to make a move that will show the fan base that they're actually serious about this two year contending window.