Hey AMAG-Question about Hermanson

[PissedPrincess]

You know more than me about this dude. How'd he look last year? I originally didn't think much of him, but I'm warming up to the guy. He appears to be a FIERCE competitor. I like his attitude. What can I expect from him?

[amag]

Hey Jacqui, nice to see that you stopped by.

Okay, Hermansen? Way back when he was thought of as a potential ace, but time has passed an he has proven that he is not one, more like a #3 starter (also can be a pretty good #2 guy). He's 29 years old this year, and the Red Sox are likely to get one of his better (or possibly best) year(s) for a few reasons: The one thing that really kept him from being an ace was his lack of command on his pitches. So, the Cardinals pitching coach, Dave Duncan, worked hard with Hermanson on his mechanics, hoping to improve his command. He did have a solid season last year, but he ended the year much better than how he started it (in the second have he was 8-6, with a 3.60 era, compared to 6-7, 5.19 in the first half.)

If he picks up this year where he left off last year, and shows good control than it is not unreasonable to think he could win 16 games with an ERA around 4.10 with the Red Sox.

And from what I know, he isn't really that injury prone. He didn't miss a start last year, and he only missed a few starts in 2000 because he went into the closers role for a little bit.

[PissedPrincess]

That sounds encouraging. I watched him real close those first 2 innings the other day. Dude STRUCK out the side, and looked MEAN AS HELL! I'm excited about him!