MLB Players Association to Investigate Twins

Greg Genske, the agent for Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano, has convinced the MLB Players Association to file a grievance over whether the Minnesota Twins have violated the collective bargaining agreement by keeping Liriano down in Class AAA Rochester of the International League, rather than call him up. Liriano was out all of last season after having Tommy John surgery, returned to the Twins in April of this year where he posted an abysmal 0-3 record and 11.32 ERA over three starts. However, since being sent down to AAA, he has posted an 8-0 record with a 2.53 ERA over 10 starts. The argument being made for a violation in the CBA is that the Twins may be attempting to keep Liriano down in the minors to avoid having to go to salary arbitration with him. As reported by The AP (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=txtwinslirianoinvesti gation prov=st type=lgns): He currently has two years, 45 days of service time in the majors but needs three years in order to qualify for arbitration. The top 17 percent of players between two and three years of service also qualify for arbitration.But, with only 73 days remaining in the regular season, Liriano would still likely fall short of the top 17 percent, depriving him of a salary increase of nearly $1 million for the 2009 campaign. The reply from Twins GM Bill Smith was that if the club were looking to avoid salary arbitration, they would not have brought Liriano up in April. Genske feels that there was enough information to warrant an investigation, and the MLBPA has agreed.Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network (http://www.businessofsportsnetwork.com/), which includes The Biz of Baseball (http://www.bizofbasketball.com/), The Biz of Football (http://www.bizoffootball.com/), The Biz of Basketball (http://www.bizofbasketball.com/) and The Biz of Hockey (http://bizofhockey.com/). He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus (http://baseballprospectus.com/news/?author=124), and is available as a freelance writer.Brown's full bio is here. (http://www.businessofsportsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com _content view=article id=47 Itemid=18) He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (http://www.businessofsportsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com _contact view=contact id=2 Itemid=29). more...