Liriano and the path of least resistance?
Posted on August 9th, 2008 – 9:16 AMBy Joe Christensen
Not sure if the Twins purposely planned it this way, but Francisco Liriano could finish the season on a relative joy ride compared to the rest of their starters.
By giving him an extra day of rest before tonight’s start at Kansas City, the Twins ensured that Liriano won’t face the Yankees next week at the Metrodome.
(Their stated goal was to prevent Liriano and lefty Glen Perkins from pitching back-to-back, but perhaps they also had visions of restoring Liriano’s confidence.)
We’ll see if they use Thursday’s off day to juggle the rotation again. If they keep everyone in order, these would be Liriano’s last 10 assignments:
Tonight @ Kansas City
Aug. 15 vs. Seattle
Aug. 20 vs. Oakland
Aug. 25 @ Seattle
Aug. 30 @ Oakland
Sept. 5 vs. Detroit
Sept. 11 vs. Kansas City
Sept. 16 @ Cleveland
Sept. 21 @ Tampa Bay
Sept. 27 vs. Kansas City (Regular season ends Sept. 28)
These are the series Liriano would miss:
Aug 11-13 vs. Yankees
Aug. 21-24 @ Angels
Sept. 2-4 @ Blue Jays
Sept. 12-14 @ Orioles
Sept. 23-25 vs. White Sox
48 Responses to "Liriano and the path of least resistance?"
Just shows you that the twins know that he can’t dominate great hitters anymore!
The guy on our staff with the best “stuff” can’t even hit above 93mph on the gun….pathetic!
shameless… you, sir, are an imbecile.
You mean that Liriano has to pitch twice against the MARINERS who kicked our butts TWICE this week?
Plus the RAYS!
Plus the weak-hitting TIGERS!
Piece of cake……..if he was pitching for the Angels!
shameless….If you have the best stuff you dont need to hit above 93mph. It sounds to me like you dont know a hell of alot about baseball. I kind or think you might hane always been the right fielder in your youth.
Nathan has the best “stuff” on the staff!
Agree that the Twins may be doing all they can to protect their young arms, but the real issue is that this team needs all their starters, including the franchise, to go deeper into the game. Slowery was out of the game in the sixth again last night. Especially on the road, this bunch has been putting too much stress on the bullpen. We don’t want to have to rely on Boof too often.
While an “easier” schedule may be good for Liriano’s stats and his confidence, wouldn’t we want our best (if indeed he is our best), going against the better teams?
Blake…… If everything stays the same, going by todays schedual and pitching lineups he will be matched up against some of the other teams better pitchers.
According to ESPN, Cleveland put only 1 of Liriano’s sliders into play…
GMan…fair enough. But would we rather have our best against KC’s best or our best against the Sox best…LAA’s best?
Hey, back off - dude just got up from AAA - pronouncements like “our best” are still using 2006 as a measuring stick. The better measurement is “Is 2008 Liriano better than 2008 Hernandez?” Answer: Yes.
Blake…. Good point, but some of the so called poorer teams can play some pretty good ball down the stretch when the pressure is off them .
I’d be surprised if they were “protecting” him, considering that the result prevents him from pitching against the White Sox in what could be the pivotal series of the season. I’m guessing that if Liriano proves to be healthy and effective, they’ll juggle the rotation at some point in September to line him up against Chicago.
Another way to look at it is if we make the playoffs the teams we’ll be playing against will be seeing Frankie for the first time in October.
Any major league team is capable of clobbering a pitcher without good stuff, or one who makes bad pitches. Consider what Seattle did to the Twins.
Luke Hughes 2008:
OBP SLG AVG
.385 .551 .319 - 285 AB - AA
.351 .514 .314 - 35 AB - AAA
Hughes is playing 3B exclusively, in AAA.
What is the point for the Luke Hughes stats.
Al Reyes was DFA’s by the Rays this morning… He was their closer last year. Interesting to see if the Twins make a move
‘Cause the The New and Improved Craig is a stat freak and forgets the see the forest from the trees. I do like Hughes, but he is tomorrow’s news. Focus on today or this year.
I get the guy but most of the time he responds with stats not just types them for the fun of it.
The Twins as a team have a favorable schedule the rest of the year. Not just Liriano.
All may be a moot point if the team adjusts the rotation again after Thursday…or after a rainout, etc.
Regardless…I like our chances with this staff. Yes…I’d like to see them go a bit deeper into games down the stretch and the hole made by Neshek’s injury is starting to expose the bullpen, but I think every starter gives us a good chance to win…every night!
Larry-anne-o ain’t our best pitcher,that would be Baker, i guess?
I’m all for letting Liriano pitch against weak teams for now, but I have a feeling that the Twins will want to adjust the rotation by the end of the year. The F-Bomb might come in handy against the White Sox if the division is on the line.
(F-Bomb is my nickname for Francisco Liriano)
Hey Joe Christenson, what took you so long to figure out Liriano’s rotation? I knew this when he was first reinstated! So there!
Me too, Marc. I posted a week ago that he would be missing the Hankies and Halo’s.
But thanks to Joe C for picking up on it and looking at the whole season.
I think it’s a mistake for Franchise to be bypassing the Yankees and Angels. But if the Twins make the playoffs, it could work to their favor with hitters on both these teams getting their first look at Liriano.
Harris and Everett do start against a righty again tonight?
Go figure…..
Hey JoeC - I knew that Liriano was going to have spaghetti last night for supper two weeks ago - why are you so slow? I bet Mark and romer know which sock he put on first this morning before he even got out of bed.
Burning Bush and Twins SoCal Fan. No need for a hysterical tizzy fit. I’ll try to explain.
The Twins have called on their AAA affiliate when the team needed players all year, Liriano being the latest.
The Twins were anticipating the return of Cuddyer, because they felt they needed an everyday right hand bat in the order. Cuddyer is now out indefinitely.
Luke Hughes is probably the most likely candidate at AAA, to fill the void. Considering the recent news of Cuddyer’s injury, I thought Luke Hughes stats might be of interest.
So, get a grip guys. How are you ever going to deal with all the pressures, once you get to high school?
Why isn’t anybody talking about Anthony Slama 39th round 06 pick with the Ft Myers team, 3-1 sv-23 era 0.89 in-61 h-36 w-21 so-92 Why isn’t he being moved up?
Because the Twins prefer to have Ben Julianel “closing” games at AA. Actually, low-level Twins Milb expert Dianna told me the FO is trying to let the teams from Ft. Myers on down stay intact the rest of the way as they all have playoff runs. Of course, that doesn’t explain why he wasn’t moved up in June.
I’d have Delaney at AAA and Slama at AA, minor league playoffs or no.
I am not saying to put Slama in the majors, but how about a higher minor team; what else is he supposed to do?
“Why isn’t anybody talking about Anthony Slama 39th round 06 pick with the Ft Myers team, 3-1 sv-23 era 0.89 in-61 h-36 w-21 so-92″
I’ve talked about him since April, but I am used to being ignored.
So, no problem.
I can’t see how they have room to see if Hughes is at Buscher/Harris’s level right now (high though I am on Hughes for next year) just because of the Cuddyer thing. I guess if you wanted to take a big chance (and why not? they ain’t gonna hit .310 with RISP the rest of the way, are they?) you could DFA Everett, platoon Hughes and Bushcher, and let Harris play short/2nd (I prefer the latter, double play turning notwithstanding; maybe they could be revolutionary and he and Punto could switch everytime a DP situation arises. I’m sure something like that’s TOTALLY a possibility on a free-thinker like Gardy’s watch.) Damn, but this Casilla thing hurts.
Realistically, though, if Cuddyer’s done doesn’t it just mean Ruiz stays? I’ll be crossing fingers really really really hard for Gomez to strike out 6 more times with the bases loaded so’s Jason Pridie gets a shot and and we can watch a guy who might at least jack one of the balls he’s chasing out of the zone, but they need a RH bat with some pop and Ruiz is all they have right now.
BTW, a month after I figured he needed sent back to AA, Trevor Plouffe is showing signs of life at Rochester. Plouffe in, Everett out, anyone?
“Al Reyes was DFA’s by the Rays this morning… He was their closer last year. Interesting to see if the Twins make a move”
Thrylos- According to the blogs, the Twins management didn’t consider Bradford an upgrade (I’m not sure why–perhaps you are as confused as I)…and being that Reyes has inferior numbers and a questionable arm, I doubt they’ll look hard at him…although, he is much cheaper–so maybe they will…but like you, I certainly hope the FO works hard to make some move in the BP
While I believe the Twins are high on both Hughes and Plouffe, neither probably ready to perform well on the MLB level this year. Ruiz is and probably will be Cuddyer’s replacement. We have a slug of interchangable infielders. Tolbert’s coming back, as is Casilla, who is the only truly promising middle infielder on the big league roster. Machado is waiting in the wings, as is Macri. We have no shortage of unexciting infielders to plug in during the remainder of this season.
That’s how I see it, too, birdofprey. It would be a big chance to try out Hughes this soon out of AA or Plouffe after the start he had and the Twins aren’t exactly known for taking big chances. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t prefer either on the roster to Everett. I mean, it’s Adam freaking Everett. The only guy on the team who looks worse at the plate is untouchable on accounta being An Igniter.
markinmn,
“the Twins management didn’t consider Bradford an upgrade (I’m not sure why–perhaps you are as confused as I)”
I am hoping that the Twins are patiently eyeballing one guy who is a difference-maker.
When THAT GUY clears waivers, the Twins will go all-in!
That’s just me hoping.
I share that hope, sane. A hope dwarfed by pessimism. And don’t despair, toby. We can dream of a future season where our eyeballs aren’t insulted by the type of plate appearance and AB we see too often in 2008. Not so much a criticism of the FO, just a general observation. Okat, a lament.
It may be accurate to say that Liriano can’t dominate great hitters as he did in ‘06 right now. But to say that he can’t dominate them anymore? It’s way too early to make that judgement. We’ll have a better read on that come All Star break ‘09.
Joe–needs a story.
Do you really think the Twins want to have one of their best pitchers avoid better teams?
Joe needs something to do. He needs to stop looking at calender patterns, and to start talking sports.
Path of least resistance?
Hey, Joe. Didn’t the path with a little more resistance two years ago blow his arm out? Why push it? What do you know about elbow tendons and Tommy John surgery. Obviously more than all of us.
I don’t care if they are against “weaker” teams or not. If Liriano wins those games, we are in the playoffs; plain and simple. He can shut down anybody, and he’ll show his mettle and get EVERYONE’S attention during the playoffs.
Go Liri! Go Gardy!
Jim in Italy,
Liri? If you must call him something different than “Liriano”, please call him “Franchise.” Not “Liri.” Is that some Italian thing or something?
Hey everyone come this Sept when the callups get here Im sharing my list right now. # Luke Hughes 3B,I consider him an upgrade from Lamb, Buscher.#2 Ryan Jorgensen C Twins need another hitter with some clout to help Joe Mauer get some more rest.#3 Brian Duensing P. Phil Humber P and Bobby Korecky RP just to help out our current pitching staff……
Viper, do you know anything about baseball??? You want Humber called up instead of Mulvey? Why? You want Hughes called up instead of Machado? Again, why? Is the fact that we have no 2B and three 3B at present totally gotten by you???
Punto lost the game for the Twins Sunday against Kansas City by his blunders in the field and at the plate. Gardenhire should be fired for putting a bum like Punto in the lineup.
