Roberto Hernandez

Hernandez battled and managed to win a spot in the Rays' rotation out of spring training and made 24 starts in 2013. He finished the season with a 6-13 record and a 4.89 ERA over 151 innings pitched. He is mainly a groundball pitcher that pitches to contact and does not blow away teams with strikeouts. The Rays brought him on board to eat up innings in the rotation and he was effective doing that at least, but that's where the positive impact ends. Hernandez will work as a back-end starter for the Phillies after signing a one-year deal in December.

After being arrested and suspended for faking his identity, Hernandez (formerly Fausto Carmona) finally returned in August and made three starts before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. The form he flashed way back in 2007 is a distant memory and while his groundball tendencies could play well given the right environment and infield defense, it's hard to envision him being much of a fantasy contributor. The Rays are attempting to make Hernandez their latest rebuilding project after signing him to a $3.25 million deal in December, although it is unclear if he is viewed as a candidate to compete for a spot in the back of the rotation.

Carmona took his lumps last season, but took the mound every fifth day for the Indians. He never seemed to be able to get in a groove, failing to win more than two games in a single month, and the form he flashed as a 23-year-old in 2007 seems like a distant memory now. His reliance on the groundball won't be helped by the Indians' infield defense so while he's a decent bet to improve on his win total from a year ago it's hard to envision him being much of a fantasy contributor, especially in formats where strikeouts are a category. Unfortunately, Carmona was arrested in the Dominican Republic in January for using a false identity. It has been revealed that he's actually Roberto Hernandez Heredia and 31 years old. Once the legal dust settles, Carmona should report back to the Indians to join the middle of their rotation. However, the timetable for that to happen is uncertain as he opened spring training on the restricted list.

If there was a silver lining to what was a tough season on the shores of Lake Erie it was the bounce back of Fausto Carmona after two disastrous seasons. Carmona's K/9IP (5.3) picked up as the season went along but he's still awfully reliant on luck and the defense behind him. He'll be back as the team's ace and while he may never recapture the magic of 2007, he's light years ahead of where he was 12 months ago.

It may not spawn as many offspring as the Carmen Sandiego series, but Indians fans are left wondering just what the heck has happened to Fausto Carmona? It got so ugly that the team decided to send him all the way back to Low-A in June to try and put the pieces back together again. He did work himself back up to the bigs by late July but didn't fare a whole lot better (3-5, 5.77 ERA after his recall) than his overall numbers on the season (5-12, 6.32 ERA). New bullpen coach Scott Radinsky has been given some of the credit for the resurrection of Cliff Lee while serving as the pitching coach at Triple-A, so the Tribe hopes he can work some of his magic on Carmona. The Indians aren't expected to be big players in the free-agent market, so Carmona will be given every chance to earn a rotation spot this spring.

A lot of things went south for Cleveland in 2008 and Carmona was no exception. After dominating the league in the second half of 2007, Carmona never seemed to get on track in 2008. He was 4-2 with a 3.10 ERA before a hip injury in May but the underlying numbers (58 innings, 54 hits, 38:23 K:BB ratio) were already trending downwards. There's room for a bounce back here but his strikeout total will limit his value in 5x5 leagues.

Last season was quite the turnaround for Carmona. Coming off of a 1-10 season in which he flamed out as a closer, Carmona took the AL by the throat in the second half of the season (9-4, 2.26 ERA and a 1.071 WHIP). The only thing standing between him and utter dominance is a lack of strikeouts, but he did show improvement in that area as the season wore on (6.7 K/9 from June on). He'll team up with C.C. Sabathia to give the Indians a lethal 1-2 punch at the front of their rotation again in 2008.

The implosion of Carmona's trial run at closer was on full display in late July and early August of last season. The oddity of it all is that he was dominant in June and July, before Bob Wickman was dealt away. After the blowups, Carmona was never the same. Tribe GM Mark Shapiro believes in him, as does manager Eric Wedge, so it's not inconceivable to see him in the closer mix at a later date, although probably not in 2007 following the acquisitions of Joe Borowski and Keith Foulke. Also, don't count Carmona against a spot in the Tribe's rotation, either.

Carmona is a nice end-of-the-rotation starter who throws an occasional hard strike and doesn't hurt himself with walks. In 2006, he'll be coming off of his best season as a minor leaguer and is looking ready to see how his sinker will fare in the majors. The only thing stopping him from big league success will be not getting enough batters to miss, and he'll need a plus major-league defense behind him (i.e., no Casey Blake at third).

Carmona climbed from high Single-A to Triple-A in 2004, where he pitched well in the International League playoffs. He is a tall Dominican who is filling out into a sinkerballing, control-type #3 or #4 starter. Of his three stops in 2004 Carmona struggled the most at Double-A, where he proved quite hittable. Still very young, he will start 2005 at Triple-A and work for a midseason shot.

Carmona posted a 17-4 record, 2.06 ERA for Lake County in the South Atlantic League, on his way to being named SAL pitcher of the year. The only issue we see on Carmon is lack of strikeouts, but he is still young and has time to develop.