No matter where Richie may roam, he's still talking about the Houston Astros. In a post on his MLBlog recently, Justice discusses Livan Hernandez after the Cuban signed with his eighth career team.
↵Hernandez is the opposite of a sabermetric darling. In fact, most stat geeks can't understand how he has been gainfully employed or successful despite having mediocre stuff and a bad strikeout rate. Justice goes into that a little, talking about how he's never had great velocity but gets by through location and movement.
↵That's all part of what scouts call being a thrower or being a pitcher. A pitcher can change locations and win when their stuff isn't at its best. A thrower just rears back and hopes his fastball is better than the bat speed of his opponent.
↵Will Livan do anything for the Astros this season? It's unlikely that he'll even make the team out of spring training. But, for all the reasons Justice goes over here, wouldn't he make an excellent mentor for guys like Paul Clemens and Jarred Cosart in Triple-A?
↵Oh, and it's worth reading the post just for Justice's quotes from Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio on how they sometimes couldn't hit Trevor Hoffman's changeup even if he told them it was coming. It's easy to forget just how good Hoffman was with that pitch, but quotes like that are good reminders.
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