Liriano Optioned to Fort Myers, Rotation Set
Posted on March 28th, 2008 – 3:41 PMBy La Velle
The Twins are very pleased with Francisco Liriano’s progress over his past two outings but feel he still needs a couple more starts. So they optioned him to Class A Fort Myers on Friday, which allows righthander Nick Blackburn to make the Opening Day rotation.
Liriano, who has struck out 12 batters over his last nine innings, will start for Fort Myers on Thursday. It actually helps him some because his wife, who is pregnant, will have labor induced on Friday.
Liriano then will join Class AAA Rochester for a start. Liriano should be able to sharpen his pitches over these outings and have the stamina to throw 100 in a game. He’s then expected to join the Twins on their road trip to Chicago, Kansas City and Detroit.
The Twins rotation against the Angels is as follows
Monday, Mar. 31: Livan Hernandez vs. Jared Weaver
Tuesday, Apr. 1: Boof Bonser vs Jon Garland
Wednesday, Apr. 2: Nick Blackburn vs Joe Saunders
Thursday, Apr. 3: Kevin Slowey vs Ervin Santana
and Scott Baker will pitch the first game of the series with Kansas City on Apr. 4 if all goes well Sunday.
92 Responses to "Liriano Optioned to Fort Myers, Rotation Set"
I want to be pissed off at this, but I’d rather he take it slow, be a good husband, and hopefully get some confidence worked up before he gets thrown into the rotation.
He’s going to be good….but just because he throws a strong line doesn’t mean he absolutely should be in the rotation.
Thank you LENIII
I have no problem with this move. I think he will be back very strong this year but he needs to build confidence and strength. I am more worried about Baker right now.
Yeah, I can’t argue with the decision either. I would think having a couple of options in Blackburn and Humber who have thrown relatively well makes the decision even easier.
[…] LaVelle reports on his blog: “The Twins are very pleased with Francisco Liriano’s progress over his past two outings but feel he still needs a couple more starts. So they optioned him to Class A Fort Myers on Friday, which allows righthander Nick Blackburn to make the Opening Day rotation.” […]
This news is expected.
It would be better, however, if they released Livan Hernandez and let Liriano have his rotation spot.
When Bass pitched ONLY 2 innings today, it was evident that Liriano was to be optioned. Liriano was not going to pitch April 7th on a cold night in Chicago. Bass had not been stretched to make that start, so it had to be Blackburn.
And I’d guess Humber will start North IF Baker can’t go…
All this depth will help trading Livan to a needy team easier.
JD Durbin got cut by the Phils today, who claimed Rule 5 Twin Tim Lahey in his stead. Apparently, the Rays may cut Grant Balfour according to mlbtraderumors.com
Twins Rotation
Monday 31 - Livan
Tuesday 1 - Boof
Wednesday 2- Blackburn
Thursday 3 - Slowey
Friday 4 - Baker
Saturday 5 - Livan
Sunday 6 - Boof
Monday 7 - Blackburn
Tuesday 8 - OFF
Wednesday 9 - Slowey
ya, its all good,,also good to see Blackburn start a few,,so we know what he,s got,too.
I love the Livan haters. I can’t wait until he shows us all a thing or two about pitching. Not overpower people but pitch. He’ll get lit up ever once and a while but he is going to be a real work horse for us. My favorite is when they compair him to Ponson. Ponson couldn’t carry Livan’s jock.
Liriano won’t pitch in Chicago. With 2 more minor league starts, he’ll be pitching at Rochester while the Twins are in Chicago.
Hey see on http://www.mlbtraderumors.com the Twins are interested in Ryan Freel.
Nothing he could have done today to make the rotation.
Make no doubt about it homers. Gardy is an idiot and this is a surefire 100 loss team.
I can hear all the fair-weather fans now who don’t actually follow the Twins: “O Liriano didn’t make the team out of spring training so therefore they’re just going to suck and not even win 60 games”
CharlieMurphy,
I agree with you about concerns about Baker. How can he be ready to pitch after he lost over 10 pounds when he was sick. I would think it could take sometime to add weight back and regain his full strength. I think he had only 4 innings of work prior to this set back.
haha while i was writing that, Jeff proved me right! Thanks jeff u’re exactly what I was talking about
Dan signing Freel would make no sense there’s no where to play him and we already have Pridie and Span waiting in line in case Gomez struggles.
Freel would take my spot. Write the 2.4M off it’s over! Just let me count my money in peace.
I don’t think Dan was advocating that the Twins pickup Ryan Freel-just pointing out a rumor. Although I agree there’s no spot for him with the Twins without further player movement.
BC,
Freel could play 2B and have 35 SB to go with Gomez’s 50 SB.
BC,
Good point. Freel could play 2B I guess. BUt then what do we do with Harris. Send tolbert down and have Harris play the utility. I highly dout this one.
cut me cut me!!! i’m hitting .125 i don’t deserve to be in the major leagues!!
If the Twins sent Punto (plus a minor leaguer)to the Reds for Freel, they would get a great backup CF and 2B.
Maybe Krivsky remembers Punto2006.
And Punto escaping Minnesota might save his career and sanity.
Exactly Pinto…maybe Wayne Krivsky still has some passion for Punto and he could be shipped to the Reds to be their utility bag o’crap.
BC, Freel can play everywhere not just in the outfield. He has played 2B, 3B and all 3 OF positions in the bigs and even some SS in the minors. He has a career .360 OBP.
Let’s send positive thoughts to our good friend Wayne regarding him wanting and needing LNP.
yes, yes do it!
By the way…Free is due $3 million this season and $4 next.
I’m getting 2.4 so for +600 you can get a career .270 hitter and dump me hitting .125 great deal. Plus we’re 10m under last years payroll.
pintobean,
“yes, yes do it!”
Was that POSITIVITY????
DUCK!!!!
There’s a lightning bolt on the way!!!
Utility Bag o’ crap. THat’s awesome. My boss heard me laugh when I read that.
Amount the Twins care about Liriano’s long-term health: Large
Amount the Twins care about winning 2 games in April during a rebuilding season: Little
They should play Liriano in minor-league ball the entire season if that’s what’s best for his long-term health.
The Reds would maybe consider Punto because he’s off the books after this year where as someone else pointed out Freel’s due 7 million over the next 2 years. I could handle that increase if it means getting rid of punto. However if the Twins were to actually go for Freel they would probably just send Tolbert down and we’d have another more experienced utility guy. Then we’d give up a prospect or two.
BTW, did anyone notice Zach Ward threw the ninth today. He could be a guy we se up at MLB club in a few years. I thought of that becasue we got him for another utility bag o’ crap Juan Castro.
What’s the deal with the rule 5 guy that the Cubs took from the Twins? How did he get claimed by another team today?
If we trade Punto for Freel, no one goes down.
I see Gardy Jr. got in the game. What’s up with that???
Gardy Jr has played the past few years. Just feel lucky you didn’t have to watch him bat.
Perry,
I believe as long as Lahey stays in MLB the Twins don’t get him back.
If he ever clears waivers, then the team who waives him must offer him back to the Twins for $25K first, before sending him to the minors.
I did in H.S. Nothing special
Why do we want freel exactly? He struck out 98 times in his best year. He steals bases but he has very little power. The only reason we’d want him is because we don’t have a legit backup centerfielder on the roster, but instead of trading for one, we could just bring up someone from AAA.
There is no difference to Liriano if he is pitching to a minor league batter or a major league batter. It’s all about the pitch count.
The only think I can think of is, the Twins don’t want to burn out their bullpen pitching 4 innings for each of Liriano’s next 2 starts, when they will probably also be needed for long relief of our other pitchers.
Zach Ward has sucked all spring. OK by me if the Twins just cut him.
I am not sure that putting Liriano in the minors for any amount of time is a positive thing. It certainly retarded Garza’s and Perkins development. It did not help them at all, it only slowed down their development and made them less confident and more inconsistent.
As far as Punto goes, he is lucky to be in the major leagues at all, for any team. But the one very good move the team made was keeping Tolbert at the major league level. He could end up starting regularly at shortstop this season.
Lets all hope Gardenhire doesn’t start throwing games by putting the bench players in unnecessarily as starters and that he settles on a regular starting pitching rotation-which I sincerelly doubt he is capable of. Gardenhire can’t help unnecessarily manipulating the lineup and hindering the team’s performance.
True, although there’s also an intensity involved. If Liriano believes that he isn’t ready to throw his slider on a consistent basis and he isn’t an asset to the team without it, it’s better to put him into the minors where he can pitch what feels comfortable until such time as he thinks he’s ready. You don’t want him to mess up something just because there’s a guy on second.
We want Freel as an option at 2B and a backup CF. Did you catch Monroe’s backpedal in CF the other day?
He could also be an escape route out of Minnesota for Punto if Gardy will cut the umbilical.
There’s a difference between having someone stay in the minors while they rehab versus holding up their development. I’m not saying Liriano in the minors for the full year is the good thing, just that the first priority should be his arm, not the season.
Certainly bring him up whenever he feels right and he’s cleared medically. Just don’t rush it because you want to win your opener. That’s all.
What I think is nice over all of this, is the fact that if anyone struggles or is injured, the AAA club looks stocked to the hilt. Once Liriano is back at the majors, they should have a nice core at Rochester with Blackburn, Duensing, Humber and Perkins, with Simonitsch maybe as the 5th.
I’m curious about the guys at AAA on who is going to be getting the most at bats…like Span and Pridie…Buscher and Macri…I would look at Span in CF, Knott in RF and Pridie/Jones/Deeds in LF. Lots of lefties there. I think even if the Twins struggle this season (which I don’t believe they will), watching the guys at AAA will be almost as fun. THANK GAWD BASEBALL IS BACK!
is there a reason blackburn is ahead of slowey in the rotation, or is it merely an issue of timing days between starts? in other words, if blackburn is ahead of slowey on the depth chart, could slowey be the one sent down when liriano returns?
Dave T,
Exactly it’s Spring. And he can hit 95 mph. Lets give him a chance he is 21.
Gus,
My choices for 5th starter at AAA:
Casey Daigle (Jenny Finch one sore arm away from the Dome)
Kevin Mulvey
Randy Keisler
Zach Day
I really like the idea of trading Punto and a prospect for Freel. Harris may not make it at 2B (good hit, no field), and Freel would give us an option that wouldn’t make me want to puke.
mmmm Jenny Finch. What were we talking about again?
gnellie,
Blackburn is #3 because it was set up in ST for Liriano to be #3 and Blackburn took his place.
Liriano will probably replace Blackburn after two starts unless Blackburn is lights-out in his two starts.
Even then, the Twins would probably ignore the fact that Blackburn hadn’t allowed a fair ball, and option him anyway.
I was wrong on this one but it’s nothing to be upset about. Sounds like it makes sense on all fronts for Liriano.
Sane,
After only pitching at FM last year,I’d be surprised if Ward starts at Roch
They have
Duensing
Humber
Perkins
maybe Mullins
Mulvey
Keisler (if he doesn’t ask for his release)
And that’s before Liriano makes a guest appearance, then his replacement comes back from the Twins.
gnellie,
Slowey could be sent down instead of Blackburn.
However, baseball brass don’t like to second guess their original decisions.(keep Slowey - option Blackburn)
They think it makes them look indecisive and makes their first decision look….well……wrong.
Funkytown,
I said Zach DAY not Zach WARD.
WARD is a High A pitcher.
DAY is an ex-MLB pitcher on rehab.
But I DID forget Mullins - good catch.
Funkytown,
Please don’t steal my Jenny Finch hopes from me.
Casey Daigle should NEVER be released.
None of you knows anything about baseball.
“PunTo sux!!!!11!1! LOLZ”
Bunch of losers.
Maybe someone knows, but does this mean that the starting rotation in Ft. Myers to start the season will be:
Francisco Liriano
Jeff Manship
Tyler Robertson
Deolis Guerra
Alex Burnett
????
If so, could that be the greatest Class A prospect rotation ever?
Great to hear the continued improvement for Liriano. I believe they know whats best for him.
You know you hold your breath that there are no setbacks with the health of his arm. I want to see him be like he was, so if that takes time in the minors, so be it. He has potential that doesn’t come around often, so being careful and smart is the only sane choice.
I would hope they are better
offensively than the poor run
production in ST.
Torri could show Gomez where not to hit the wall.
HAVE FUN !!! GO TWINS!!!
hello ryan freel …. goodbye nick punto…..now i could see that happening, and as much as i like nick, one would have to say the twins would be foolish not to remove nick to make room for a player like freel, who can play anywhere…….i doubt this will happen, but it should if hes that available….remember the fo connections with the reds and minny
trade harris and punto for freel…freel could lead off for the twins and take that pressure off the kid…damn this deal makes so much sense the more i think about this freel guy…..
I’m all for Liriano stretching out and getting some confidence…but every pitch not for the twins is one less he has. Lets not waste them
Hey…
Great starting rotation for Ft Myers. I’m pretty sure they need all of them.
Sane,
Thought I read Zach Day was going to be shut down, then stay and rehab in FM…
If we could get Freel for Punto that would be good we might have to add on a couple middle potential guys like Waldrop and someone else. Hey maybe they’ll add Jay Bruce to there deal. LOL
I have been saying we should trade for Freel for over a year. We needed him more last year. But he would make the team better this year. He would give us insurace at 3b, 2b, and CF. That would be very nice to have.
I don’t think the Reds will be taking Punto, but perhaps they will take somebody like Glen Perkins.
This is a rediculous move! You can’t tell me that over the first couple weeks of the season that any one pitcher in the Twins lineup will do any better than Liriano would right now! Its not as if Liriano is hurt, then I could understand. I just dont understand this move and am extremely dissapointed in having to watch Slowey or Blackburn instead of the dynamic Liriano!
Funkytown,
You may be right about Zach Day.
I don’t know what the timetable for his recovery will be.
I just threw out some names as possible #5 pitchers in Rochester: several are long shots - some may be no shots.
Gamer,
The hope with Punto was that Wayne Krivsky would remember Punto2006 from when he was TR’s assistant.
He might like him and think he has something left. Hell, I think he has something left, but it will never come out in Minnesota. Talk about needing a “change of scenery”.
Why is everybody getting so worked up over this whole Ryan Freel thing? First of all it will never happen. And second of all we dont need him. I agree Punto sucks, but he has absolutely no trade value whatsoever!
It’s amazing how people who can hate a player so adamantly can still think he’s worth anything in a trade.
I should add I’m bummed Liriano won’t be with the team at the start, but if the trade off is a healthy player than can contribute for years vs. another Mark Prior I’ll take it.
Didn’t know about Liriano’s wife. Let him start two games in the minors then, then bring him up for a start or two in the dome until the weather warms up. I do think he deserved to make the team though.
T-
I get your point… you bring it up every day just like the trade nick punto and trade rincon comments come up every day. Both have become routine, and uninspiring. For as much grief as I get, and admittedly bring upon myself a lot of the time… T that line has gotten about as limp as Punto’s bat, or as flat as Rincon’s slider.
I do agree with you that I don’t want to see Liriano become the next Mark Prior, Rick Ankeil, Mark Fydrich, or any other failed “can’t miss prospect.”
So I applaud them for playing this one safe. Protect the franchise by protecting THE FRANCHISE if you will. Blackburn seems to have earned the right to pitch in the bigs this year with a great spring, and a great fall. Who knows, maybe he gives us protection in case Bass faulters, or Rincon ends up getting cut? Though he had a pretty good spring training I still am scared to death to see him in a meaningful game… The punto crap is just for fun with me. I can’t stand his game at all so it’s fun, but as a former pitcher, and a former coach… Rincon only comes into pressure situations, and doesn’t seem to handle them. It’s a permanent red flag.
Why is this good? Who has convinced all of you that this is good? He has far more innings under his belt than Baker or Blackburn. His numbers in his last start were almost identical to Blackburn’s last start, and better than Slowey’s last start.
This is a stupid move; this is just more disregard by the Twins for the month of April. Every year, it’s the same crap. And, to all of you giving Gardy so much credit: He’s an idiot, plain and simple. This is the same idiot that kept a much deserving Johan out of the rotation for a year and a half. It’s the same idiot that kept a deserving Liriano out of the rotation for two and a half months. He’s the same idiot that left camp with Buck Buchanan as his right fielder, even though the guy was totally out-played by Dustan Mohr and Michael Cuddyer that spring. He’s the same idiot that insisted that Tony Batista play third, Juan Castro play short, and Ruben Sierra DH in ‘06. He’s the same idiot that insisted the Twin break camp with Ramon Ortiz and Sydney Ponson in their rotation last year, pissing away 40% of their April and May games. He’s the same idiot that stuck with Nick Punto ALL YEAR last year, despite the face that he spent a vast majority of the season batting BELOW .200. He’s the same idiot that’s demanded Livan Hernandez open the season for the Twins. (Must be his long, storied career with the Twins that earned Livan that honor.)
Gardy is an idiot. This is a stupid move. Liriano is as ready as anyone else on that staff. Really, I dare you to name one guy in that rotation more ready than him. It’s a joke, and Fran only gets better while here starting; he certainly doesn’t hurt the team or himself by doing so. Christ, look at the staff–70% of Fran is better than 100% of Hernandez and Bonser collectively.
At some point, all ignorant Twins fans and their stupid manager must realize that Francisco Liriano is NOT the Twins future.
He is their PRESENT.
F*** the rainy day vibe. It’s time to roll, and Fran’s as ready as anyone in that rotation. That’s a fact.
The bullpen that Terry Ryan assembled, and the young starters Terry refused to part with, will hopefully keep this team somewhat competitive.
The hitting is not impressive, and the fielding looks bleak. The Twins are going to struggle, with so many holes in the fielding game. It will be difficult for Harris and Lamb to survive as starters for long.
Lala72,
Do you think Gardy’s an idiot?
BTW: Did anyone happen to read that Bonser gave up six runs on eight hits to a Class A team in his final “tune up”??? Now, is that ready? Is a total of four innings pitched during Spring Training (Scott Baker) indicative of someone ready for the regular season? Is five innings, three hits, and one run via 70 pitches by Nick Blackburn more ready than five innings, three hits, one run, and seven strikeouts via 74 pitches by Liriano???
Gardy’s an idiot, and I can’t wait for him to be canned at the end of the season.
Hey, I know, give that final spot not to Nick Blackburn or Liriano but to Nick Punto!
settle down LaLa!!! would you rather have
Franchise get a little more work down in Fort Myers or put him in the big leagues right away? I would like to think that we can contend this year for the division but in reality we probably wont be so lets Liriano more work considering that he did miss the first week or so of spring training
LaLa,
“Gardy’s an idiot, and I can’t wait for him to be canned at the end of the season.”
Who do I believe?
You or the Sports Department of the WALL STREET JOURNAL?
I am already getting financial guidance from JoeC and LaVelle.
Brandon Morrow - RHP, who was one of our rumored pickups in a rumored Santana trade with the Mariners was just sent all the way down to AA after pitching in the MLB last year.
There’s no saying how Santana would have turned out if he’d come into the rotation right away.
Perhaps he would have been rocked so badly that he lost all confidence. Maybe he blows out his elbow in start #3, never to be seen from again. Hindsight is 20/20. I’d say Johan turned out just fine.
Our organization coddles players a bit. It’s true. Yet 4 division titles in 6 years, up against teams with more money and more “star power”, I’d say we do just fine.
Opposing teams & coaches & writers raved about Blackburn this ST… his stuff was electric. If Liriano’s command is not where it needs to be, he’s going to be lit up at the major league level. Give him a start or two against A ball players, and he should be sharp. Bring him to the bigs, watch him win 18 games, and lead the twins to an unexpected playoff berth.
The lineup doesn’t have as many holes as it has in the past, in fact we have more depth than I ever remember (lewwwwwww and rodriguez were AWESOME bench players!!!)
Liriano will start a couple of games in the Minors. Big deal. Unless something major goes wrong he’ll join the Twins in a couple of weeks. This isn’t the case where he has to prove something or someone has to falter big time for him to be called up. His call-up is automatic. Some of you people just love hearing yourself bitch.
Possible upside to the Liriano Delay:
Blackburn gets evaluated in two regular season MLB games after an excellent ST.
Compared to Livan, Boof, Slowey and Baker, Blackburn could be a top of the rotation guy.
Even if Blackburn was tearing up AAA in April instead of pitching MLB, the Twins would never promote him until a SP either got injured or failed miserably over and over and over and over. (ala Ponson and Ortiz in 2007)
I would suggest that not only are the Liriano minor league stints in his best interests, but his MLB teammates. If you have a guy who can only go 75 pitches for 2-3 more starts, that’s possibly 4-6 innings. Getting someone in there who can potentially go 9 takes POSSIBLE stress off the bullpen.
Liriano is a K pitcher, and they often have slightly higher pitch counts.
It makes sense, the Twins will be fine and gives us a chance to see Blackburn, which should be cool to watch.
Liriano just threw 75 pitches! Gardenhire himself has been saying all spring that after each start the starter should be able to throw 15 more pitches the next time out, until he reaches 100. You cant tell me that 90 pitches isnt enough for the big leagues. It is a joke!
He has far more innings under his belt than Baker or Blackburn.
Except that all of those innings were more than a year ago before he had major surgery.
Though he had a pretty good spring training I still am scared to death to see him in a meaningful game…
Meaningful as in playoff/division, or meaningful as in regular season? Because I think this is the best time for a young rotation. There’s not going to be a whole lot of pressure on them this season except any pressure they put on themselves to prove they’re ready.
Next season though and especially once the stadium opens, there will be far more pressure to perform. But they’ll have already taken their lumps as a young team this season and be ready to go.
[…] on Friday and Scott Baker’s minor league start on Sunday. Ron Gardenhire announced Francisco Liriano was optioned to the Twins Class A Fort Myers to start the season. Francisco pitched well on Friday throwing 73 […]
