Are the Twins Focused on Winning; Then Where is Francisco Liriano?
Thursday, July 24th, 2008 by smitchell
The next Johan Santana had a terrible start to the 2008 season. I should know; I drafted him. When Liriano was sent down to the minors, I had to cut him because my league has no bench. I picked him up over the All-Star break expecting him to be called up, but he is still sitting down in the minors. Why?
It appears that Liriano has gotten over his control issues. He has been making fools out of minor league hitter for the past 2 months. He has 9 straight victories. His last start, he went 7 innings and gave up 2 hits, no runs, one walk and struck out 10. He has been pitching this well for a long time now, and the Twins still will not bring him up.
Yes, he has been doing this against double A hitters, but his problem in the bigs was that he had no control with 13 walks in 10 innings. He had the same problem in his first few starts in the minors. He was banged around there as well until he got his stuff back. His stats after his first several starts in the minors was 0-2 with an ERA over 5.00. He is now 9-2 with an ERA of 3.13 and a WHIP of 1.11. He is overpowering once again, and his control is impeccable. Why then is Liriano still in the minors?
The Twins say they have not brought him up because there is no one on the staff that should be demoted or moved to the bullpen. Are you kidding me? Livan Hernandez is 10-6, but not because he is pitching well. He gets hammered all the time and is only winning because he is getting run support. The rumor is the Twins want to trade the has-been, and if that is true, then Liriano will be up on August 1.
Hernandez aside, there is also Kevin Slowey. He is pitching okay, a 4.41 ERA, but Liriano is much better than a middle of the road starter. If you are holding back a true ace of your staff for a guy with a 4.41 ERA, you have to be smoking crack. I would rather have Slowey either in the bullpen or in the minors, than have my franchise pitcher blowing away hitters in the minors.
There has been the rumor that the Twins are holding Liriano back because they are worried about his contract and service time. If that is the case, Twins management should be ashamed. You are in the middle of the pennant race, and you have your franchise pitcher in the minors because you are worried about him racking up service time!
None of this makes any sense. If the Twins really wanted to win, Liriano would be on the roster right now.
I am not a Twins fan, but I have always marveled at their ability to compete year and year out with a limited bank roll. Keeping Liriano in the minors though is the type of decision that kills teams with little wiggle room like the Twins. I have respect the Twins franchise, but they are making me scratch my head with this one.
