Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano is still recovering from arm surgery and it is unclear whether or not he will be ready for Spring Training. Liriano was 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA in 121 innings in 2006, and it looked like he and Johan Santana would be one of the best one-two punches in the league. However, Santana is still on the trade block and Liriano has faced several set backs and no one is sure if he will make the MLB team if he is ready. Personally, I think the Twins should be very cautious with Liriano and not rush him to get back to playing regularly. There are many examples of pitchers around the league that were rushed back from injury and have only suffered because of it. Mark Prior, Mike Hampton, to name a few. Although a trade involving Santana might be good because Liriano is no guarantee, I still do not think a trade will happen.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Is Liriano Going To Be Ready?
Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano is still recovering from arm surgery and it is unclear whether or not he will be ready for Spring Training. Liriano was 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA in 121 innings in 2006, and it looked like he and Johan Santana would be one of the best one-two punches in the league. However, Santana is still on the trade block and Liriano has faced several set backs and no one is sure if he will make the MLB team if he is ready. Personally, I think the Twins should be very cautious with Liriano and not rush him to get back to playing regularly. There are many examples of pitchers around the league that were rushed back from injury and have only suffered because of it. Mark Prior, Mike Hampton, to name a few. Although a trade involving Santana might be good because Liriano is no guarantee, I still do not think a trade will happen.
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4 comments:
Last I heard the Twins are being very cautious. He just began throwing, when pitchers and catchers meet will most likely be the decider on where he's at and when he will be ready.
You can't compare his injury to others who didn't have tommy john surgery either (way different). Also he's had about a year off, I don't think thats rushing him back, thats compared to other Tommy John surgery recoveries. The Twins think they may have another Santana and they're not going to risk losing him for next year.
Where did you see these "Set backs"? everything coming out of the twins organization has said he's on schedule.
" With spring training seven weeks away, it's undetermined whether Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano will return from arm surgery as a starter or reliever, or even begin the season at Class AAA Rochester."
When Charlie Walters decides where Liriano will go, that's where they'll put him. His opinion is the only bad news I've seen on Liriano.
Maybe Charlie decides to send him to AA just to show em good.
maybe he knows something, but he didnt say he did.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_7839488?source=most_viewed
I think the Twins blew it long ago trying to get him to start in the majors.
He has been having physical problems since his teens when he was with the Giants. I credit them with keeping him healthy while in their minors, but, really, given his healthy history, pushing him to start in the majors was like the dog with the bone trying to steal the bone he sees in the reflection of the water and end up losing his bone in the water. They nearly killed their golden goose.
Good that they are still being cautious, but if they try to start him again, I think that's an act of desperation. I understand wanting to start him - with his peripherals, he would easily replace Santana for them - but given his health history, I think they risk losing him permanently. They should just make him a closer in the modern day sense of the word, with minimal work in highly leveraged situations, much like Eck was used. If they trade Santana, they may as well trade Nathan too, and prep Liriano for the closer role in 2009.
Not that I'm a doctor, though, but just look at his health history, he has been racking up days on the DL for the last 10 years - they signed him when he was 18 I believe. The Giants shut him down repeatedly while he was in our system, I don't even recall him ever lasting a full season with us and I recall the injuries being usage problems, not freak accidents.
That's why I was impressed with the Twins being able to get him to pitch and progress in the minors without further health problems and, despite the infamy that trade has been for Giants fans, was rooting for him.
But I had a bad feeling when the moved him from the bullpen to the rotation, and like I said, not a doctor, just a fan.
Liriano just turned 25, if thats who you are talking about. So he was drafted when he was 15, since he has had 10 years of health problems with the Giants? Were you talking about Nathan? If Liriano, it looks like he will be more of a fastball changeup pitcher due to the fact that he throws his slider with so much torque its what hurts his arm.
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