Happy Birthday--February 20

Sam Rice (1890)
Muddy Ruel (1896)
Tommy Henrich (1913)
Frankie Gustine (1920)
Jim Wilson (1922)
Roy Face (1928)
Clyde Wright (1941)
Bill Gullickson (1959)
Shane Spencer (1972)
Livan Hernandez (1975)
Justin Verlander (1983)
Jose Morales (1983)

Right-hander Eisler Livan Hernandez was with the Twins for roughly four months in 2008.  The brother of Orlando Hernandez, he is a native of Villa Clara, Cuba, which is where he went to high school.  He was signed by Florida as a free agent in 1996.  He struggled some in his first year in organized baseball, a season he split between AA and AAA as a 21-year-old, but he pitched fairly well in AAA in 1997 and reached the Marlins in mid-June.  He did very well, going 9-3, 3.18, helping lead the Marlins to the World Championship, and finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting.  Hernandez was not as good for the rest of his career with the Marlins, posting ERAs in the mid-fours through late July of 1999, when he was traded to San Francisco.  He finished that year and pitched the next three for the Giants.  His best year in San Francisco was 2000, when he went 17-11, 3.75.  In March of 2003, Hernandez was traded to Montreal and was and Expo/National until August of 2006.  He posted an ERA under four each year from 2003 through 2005 and made the all-star team twice.  In 2006, however, he was having a poor year when he was traded to Arizona.  He stayed with the Diamondbacks through 2007, when he became a free agent.  He signed with Minnesota for 2008.  He got off to a decent start, but deteriorated as the season went along:  as a Twin, he was 10-8, 5.48 with a WHIP of 1.63.  He was placed on waivers in August and claimed by Colorado, for whom he finished the season.  He signed with the Mets for 2009, was released in late August, and signed with Washington, for whom he finished the season.  Along the way, he pitched 200 or more innings every season from 1998 through 2007, and has pitched over 180 innings or more every season from 1998 through 2009.  It does not appear that Livan Hernandez has yet signed for 2010.

Catcher Jose Morales is one of two players by that name to have played for the Twins.  This one was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, and attended high school there.  He was drafted by the Twins in the third round in 2001.  He was in rookie ball for two years, hitting .309 the second season.  He then was in A ball for two years and AA for two more years before reaching AAA Rochester in 2007.  Something seemed to click for him at AAA, because he has hit over .300 three years in a row there.  Only one of those years was a full season--he was injured part of 2008 and was called up to the majors for much of 2009.  He hit over .300 in the majors last year, too, hitting .311 in 119 at-bats.  Morales did not show power in the minors (his highest home run total was four) nor did he draw very many walks (his combined walk total last year, 42, was the highest of his career), so he needs to hit for a high average to have much value offensively.  He is recovering from an injury, and may not be ready to start this season, but will presumably be the Twins' back-up catcher this season when he is healthy.