Has Livan Hernandez made his last start for the Twins?
Posted on July 31st, 2008 – 9:36 PMBy La Velle
There are strong indications that the Twins will cut loose righthander Livan Hernandez in order to make room for lefthander Francisco Liriano.
Several people with knowledge of the situation have said over the past two days that it’s time for Liriano to join the major league roster and, while he has won 10 games, Hernandez’s recent results indicate that it is time for a change.
Liriano is scheduled to start on Friday for the Red Wings but it looks like that won’t happen. It’s unclear where he would be inserted into the Twins rotation.
Indications are that the Twins are willing to eat the remainder of Hernandez’s $5 million salary.
137 Responses to "Has Livan Hernandez made his last start for the Twins?"
We can only hope!
it is long over due get lirrino back into the rortation
Can’t Hernandez pitch batting practice? Oh, you say he has been doing that for a while.
YEAHHHH!!!!! 3 cheers for common sense!!!!
I’m glad to hear that LIriano’s coming up, but am I the only one who would rather have Livan in the mop-up role than Brian Bass? If Livan’s been as much of a positive influence as they’ve been saying, I’d rather have him around in a pennant race than Bass.
agree with Chazz. Let Livan pitch long relief unless he is a cancer in clubhouse. separate note - could everett be any worse of a hitter? there HAS to be a better option for us.
For me it depends on if that is a role Livan could live with. Maybe he thinks if the Twins cut him loose he could land on his feet with another contender? I’m sure someone out there like the Dodgers would be okay with paying him a pro-rated veterans minimum for the rest of the summer just to see what he’s got left in the tank…maybe the Diamondbacks too?
at this point i would rather have bass. he is more of a ground ball pitcher, livan is a flyball (HR) pitcher. Plus there is prolly a bit of professional courtesy letting livan hook up with another team.
is anyone else scared as hell to have guerrier and crain be out there with the game on the line?? can nathan pitch 3 innings every night??
Bass might be better, I just think that since most of the innings are meaningless anyway, you’d rather have the guy who could play a leadership role. He does have extensive postseason experience.
Made my night.
HUGE mistake to get rid of Livan. I don’t care about his stats one bit, within reason of course, but you can’t replace that veteran presence in the rotation. I’m sure the majority of fans can’t wait to unload Livan, but these fans also don’t have a clue about the game and don’t understand how valuable veteran presence is in a young pitching rotation.
i figured they’d keep him for the stretch run. either put him in the pen or put in in AAA for awhile. we don’t know if all 5 of our young guys can handle the pressure of a pennant chase and have enough endurance to last past 200 innings. livan at least gives us that.
Hey, seriously, Livan has been okay. We can’t attack the guy. He was expected to be okay and that’s what he’s been. I really believe Francisco is ready to be much better than okay. I hope they make the move, but I’d thank Livan on his way out and cheer him on wherever he lands.
I hate the word veteran. It means very little. Talent wins, not service time.
Livan has not been ok. He is/was on pace to give up more hits per inning than anyone since the 1930s. He has been historically bad. It’s just that his 10 wins have hid it.
“I hate the word veteran. It means very little. Talent wins, not service time.”
Agreed. But I don’t think Bass is all that talented, either. Hence my preference for Livan.
Although, on a side note, the mopup man is usually ditched in favor of an extra bat on postseason rosters.
The problem with Livan has been in the early innings and sometimes later. That would not make him a good relief candidate folks.
Yes!, that makes my day after no moves happened.
Unrelated note:
Shooter Hunt: 5 IP, 9 K’s, 2 Hits, 0 Earned runs. 5 BBs though… Beloit wins in 10th.
0-0 at Beloit. 10 IP, 18 K’s(!), 5 hits, 7 BBs, 1 earned run.
overall: 29 IP, 52 K’s (!), 13 BBs, 9 hits(!), 2 earned runs(!).
This guy is sick…hopefully the track record of the Twins system and the pitching coaches improve his control, and damn this kids got a bright future.
Go Twins!
(did anyone else hear the ridiculous contract incentives Livan’s contract has for Innings Pitch, I gotta think that plays a role in this as well. At 160 (i think) IP he gets a $133,000.00 bonus and for each 5 IP after that another $133,000.00, all the way up to 230 IP. wasn’t ‘really’ a cheap contract if you take that into account. And apparently the FO came to their senses that its not worth paying a guy that when he’s not doing so good… has like 140 some IP right now)
Again, I’m just judging Livan against Bass. I think Livan is more valuable for the role (than Bass), not saying he’d necessarily be good.
As much as I can’t stand watching Livan pitch, I think we should keep him in the rotation and put Liriano in the set up role. We need lights out set-up more than we need a 5th starter.
this day comes as a big dissapointment
however i think the twins have a solid team. it is time for hernandez to go and start liriano. The big problem is we cant compete in the playoffs with punto harris and buscher, we should of got a big bat.
Can someone please explain to me what “veteran presence” is? It’s got to be one of the dumber sports cliches around. Do guys like Blackburn and Slowey really give a rats ass about what Livan thinks?
If his “veteran presence” is so valuable, why does he come out to the mound instead of Anderson?
Please, quit using “veteran presence” as an excuse to keep him around.
viking - I agree 100% that they should have got a bat and that any combo of their infielders isn’t enough without Casilla’s production to expect them to make some noise in the playoff’s, but they definitely got a shot at making it.
“Everett the worst player ever.” Yeah, he’s bad, but Terry Mulholland was like 85 years old. To say that Terry was better than anyone would be pushing it.
i just watch evarett ground out with bases loaded and wondered how tejada would of looked in a twins uniform. we have alot of dead wieght on the bench with monroe, lamb, etc. however we scored 10 runs tonight, gardy is a master and the twins are alot of fun to watch.
Livan could teach our young guys how to be old, fat, low energy, and still get paid $5 mill a year to throw a ball 60mph and get shelled.
Who else could teach this to our young guys?
I agree with you Bill. I do think players should get credit for their track record. It just becomes a problem when managers and the like mistake service time for said track record.
Thank God. Thanks to Livan for more wins than anyone thought he’d get, but it’s time for Liriano. You can’t have a guy dominating AAA like that and not bring him up.
Huh. Didn’t see that coming, at least not the cutting Livan part. I like Liriano coming up.
Thanks for the update La Velle.
I’d be fine with the move, but what about letting Boof go and putting him in the ‘pen?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Now my hair can grow out again and I can stop cursing…
Awful idea. Boof potentially has a future in baseball, Livan doesn’t.
hey steve,
you like to watch a run an inning and one or two on with no out all game long. give me a break we are not the yankees that have 7 or 8 big bats a night we are the twins, hernandez is a veteran but this team dont need veterans it needs wins and hernandez cant get them.
Release Livan? About time. Send Monroe with him.
I’d rather see Livan go than Bass. Bass is just a rookie and could still improve. Livan is a proven sub-par pitcher. I also don’t agree with the “veteran presence” argument. Isn’t it the coach’s job to help the pitchers get over a bad inning/game? Or can’t Nathan help out with that?
“Send Monroe with him.” I agree 100%.
Livan has done the job and thrown some innings. If he didn’t miss a start for us the rest of the year, he’d pobably have over 200 innings which is what we were looking for with him. his 10-8 record was probably considered best case scenario and we got it. The other pitchers have shown they can handle their roles so its time to move on. If we weren’t incontention or if one of the 4 weren’t pulling their weight around here then we should keep him. As it is we have a chance now and should go with the best players we have.
the only thing Livan tought our young pitchers was how to remain extremely calm and stress free while making every guy in the league the best hitter at that moment - and if repetition is a good teacher, they should have definitely learned their lessons by now
reason why Livan is out: refer to end of my 10:18 post about his r-tarded Innings Pitched incentives.
monroe is like rondell white we didnt improve we just replaced, monroe,lamb. everette,punto is what we get for being twins fans its like hocking, rebolete,lambardozzi,husky ect. the good thing is we have a great manager and good solid pitching now we must hope for the best.
ps. like phil nevin also
anyway, living in nevada and born and raised in winona it was great to see the warriors win the national champ.
that is a team with some heart.
[…] of Francisco Liriano from AAA. I was shocked to read LaVelle’s blog column tonight called Has Livan Hernandez Made His Last Start for the Twins? As much as we all know that it would be the best move the Twins could make, I really don’t […]
I just cut the throat of a chicken and poured the blood into a bowl, added some bat wings and some herbs and crap, and did a fire dance - all in the hopes that Casilla’s ligament doesn’t need surgery and Adam Over-it goes back from whence he came.
As far as Livan - sometimes young players look to older “veterans” and actually listen to them, rather than always listening to “coaches”. Having him in the pen is smart. We have plenty of players to drop for Liriano. Keep Hernandez for chemistry.
And for those who know baseball…Punto rocks the hizzz-house.
Great idea. Everett, Monroe, and Lamb should be next. Cuddy can take one spot and Ruiz and Macri should be called up.
How does “Over-It” even work? Isn’t that a name better suited for a homerun hitter?
Are we honestly going to label cutting Livan as a “cheapskate” move when they’ll likely be paying him to do nothing?
Livan would rather be released than move to the bullpen. Move him to the bullpen and he’ll pout and be a distraction. Then he won’t be that cushy veteran influence we so richly need for our young staff.
get him on a plane tomorrow let him start saturday and push everyone back a day
If Livan is put on waivers, I think he will be claimed.
His salary for 2 months would be manageable. ($1.67 million?)
The Twins would be off the hook, if he is claimed.
I could be wrong.
this move is terrible Livan is far better than Liriano the season is offically over
This move sucks. I hate Bill Smith, why would he do this? Who in their right mind would agree to this?!
Nice that the media wind is finally blowing against Hernandez months after the fact. How many times are the opinion columnists and other media types in this city going to puff up these terrible players? La Velle, I know you can’t rip these decisions in your role as beat writer, but where was Souhan? Where was Reusse? Where was Barreiro? Where were the guys from across the river?
Liriano has an era over 11 and this is the move he makes BILL SWITH IS HAVING A TERRIBLE NIGHT
Billy,
Souhan is busy ripping Liriano
Liriano as setup man? We don’t need a 5th starter?
Ahhhhh - if Liriano truly has returned to form, he’s not exactly a 5th starter. This move effectively moves perkins/slowey/blackburn down a notch, and allows us to have Liriano/Baker at the top of the rotation.
Also - keep in mind, come playoff time.. if we go with a 3 man rotation (not likely) in the 1st round of the playoffs, we have 2 extra guys to move to the pen, meaning guys like Bass won’t be around anyway (ahh - down 5-0 after 3, you want Perkins coming in for 4 innings, or Bass?).
Who would have thought the Wild now have the 4th worst FO in MN.. based on recent moves at least.
Yes, although Livan had a not good, but productive/worthwhile pre all star game first half in my opinion, but Liriano is ready, and LEVAN is tanking.
I’m pretty disgusted with the Twins FO Not doing Anything. Remember Shannon Stewert? He wasn’t all that good when we traded him. He was pretty much a no-name nobody. What’d he do? He energized the Twins and we won the division. Proof of how making a trade- even if it’s just for making a trades sake- can greatly help a ballclub. I was fairly confident that they would do Something before the deadline, but they did not. I was so mad (found out about 7 when I got off work) that they had done nothing, I didn’t take much interest in tonight’s game early on. It was a great game to watch though, and that got me into it. I guess what’s SO frustrating is that other teams do things to improve and we don’t. (Or at least TRY to make improvements). I thought BS would come through, but alas, no.
Barring a miracle (and they have happened before) They can’t win the WS now. Win the division? Yes. Easily even. Look at the Sox Schedule. Then look at ours. We Should win the division by 5 games. No guarentees, but still. I just don’t see them competing in the post season though. They should consider it a good playoff run if they force a game 5 in the first round. They have no, nor did they acquire any, protection for Morneau. If first base is open, they int. walk him and the next guy comes through only about 20-25% of the time. Morneau is a GREAT hitter. If the Twins make the playoffs, he should be MVP. Hands down.
I would’ve taken Span out of ST and I would stick with Livan. Yes, I want to bring up Liriano, but not at the expense of Liriano. I don’t know where you’d put him if Livan stayed, but I guess I don’t have to worry about it…
2 Things:
When’s the last time Bass pitched? (I might not have been paying attention).
When’s the last time ANY Twin even Attempted a stolen base to 2nd?
I guess a .340 opponent batting average doesn’t get a pitcher what it used to…
TT
The Twins defiantly should not just dump boof. Boof has potential, and should be at least traded. Maybe Boof can come back next year and be a dominate Bull pen pitcher,be traded in the offseason, or barring injurgy become a good starter again. Who knows, but again do not just dump livan. Lamb on the other hand…
*not at the expense of Hernandez
what in the heck is TK(2) smoking.
and i quote “I would stick with Livan. Yes, I want to bring up Liriano, but not at the expense of Livan”
I would like to hear try to justify that statement. retard
Everybody’s making a big deal about Manny. The Twins just traded one of the worst pitchers in the majors for one of the best. That sounds like a steal to me. I also suspect that a lot of players are going to start showing up on the waiver wire here very soon. The Twins have always done very well with waiver players in the past. It’s still possible they might get their bullpen help yet.
If the Twins believe Livan is the one they can do without, then so be it. But let’s not preten Livan wasn’t valuable the first half of the season. If you want to throw around stats like ERA and hits, then let’s throw around the only stats that count; wins and losses. Not to mention the innings Livan ate up which gave our bullpen a rest between all the pitching they did while our young starters were getting beat around the first two months. Perhaps Livan has served his purpose and it is time for him to go. Well I let him go with a hand shake and a hearty “thank you” and “good luck”.
I honestly think the Twins should have tried to make a deal for Eric Milton. I think the Yanks would have taken Swarzak for him. We could use his veteran leadership if we get rid of Livan. Reports are that Milton has his velocity up to 82 mph, and has his curve working again.
What the?????
Scooter,
You under-estimate the ineptitude of Kevin McHale. That man could screw up Russian Roulette with a fully loaded automatic weapon man…
The gun would jam.
And Hockey is like the 7th coolest sport… right ahead of car racing, and professional wrestling. I’d rather watch the weather channel, food network, or one of the religious channels than watch Hockey.
You also give Bill Smith too much credit. We gave away too much for Young, still should have traded Santana to the Red Sox for Ellsbury, Lowrie, and Masterson. You people complained when I said the Twins should go after Pedro Feliz. Look up his stats with the Phillies!
Why didn’t the Twins look at Grabow from the Pirates, or Carlysle from the Braves. They would look better than Brian Bassackwards, or Dennys BP Reyes.
Then throw in the fact that NO BALLS and 3 Strikes Terry Ryan choked, and chumped his way through 2007 in a Kevin McHale fashion. 1st he could have traded for talent to put the Twins in the race when we were only 5-6 games back, and didn’t. 2nd he gave away Luis Castillo who in the end would have qualified as a compensation guy, and we would have gotten more for keeping him and letting him go via free agency. Once we traded him we should have traded Silva, and Hunter as well. I know the Red Sox had discussions with the Twins on Hunter last year, and the Ellsbury’s name was involved then!
Oh and then let’s talk about Mike Lamb, and Adam Everett! Let’s talk about resigning Michael Cuddyer (who I like, but it looks like a terrible decision)…
So I in order of failures as Front Offices…
If we go by the last 6 weeks Hockey counts, but if we look at the last year… 1) Wolves, 2) Vikings (Tavarius is latin for CRAP) 3) Wolves (McHale is such a reject that I want him on here twice) 4) Terry Ryan of the Twins 5) Bill Smith of the Twins 6) our Soccer team for not giving Amos MacGee more talent to work with, and 7) the Wild who somehow sellout every game, and never generate negative news other than when they brought in the thug when we needed a scorer… But it’s hockey, and not a real sport so how can it be higher on the list?
That would be a pretty rash decision by the Twins. You don’t just throw away a guy who does that well at home. Put him in the bullpen or something, but you don’t just cut him loose.
Funny stuff BC
“and i quote “I would stick with Livan. Yes, I want to bring up Liriano, but not at the expense of Livan”
I would like to hear try to justify that statement. retard”
Gladly. Livan is a veteran. He is the Only veteran on this staff. I firmly believe in all the things people say like, He is a great influence on this team. I think that all the young starters have benefited greatly from his advice and calm but steady leadership. Is he the ace of the staff? No. Probably more like the 5th starter. But has he done what we thought he would? Yes. We knew he wasn’t Cy Young. We knew that his ERA would be high. We brought him in to eat innings and be a leader- which he has done rather effectively. The two things that make him seem bad are: #1. We are in contention when we weren’t supposed to be. #2. He got off to a much better start than anyone expected. So now that he’s doing what he should have been doing all along, it just seems worse.
Since we are in contention, it would be wise to bring up Liriano- which it looks like we will finally do. I just wish it wasn’t at the expense of Livan. Logically, he’s the odd man out. Maybe they could get B-b-boof through waivers and trade him, and send Livan to the bullpen to replace him. If Livan goes, I wish him nothing but the best. As long as we don’t lose to him, I hope he wins a WS someday.
By the way, and I quote: “I would like to hear try to justify that statement. retard”
hear try? That’s not a complete sentence. Retard should be capitalized. And there should be a period after retard. Hope this helps.
**The Twins should have made a trade of some kind**
Livan should have to earn his money the rest of this year into playoffs if we make it….?? So we win the Central and draw the Angels or the Red Sox in the first round that will be a first round exit for our MN Twins with a roation with Livan in it and a Bullpen with Boof as a long relief pitcher.
Plus afer August 1st Francisco (Franchise) Liriano can join the the rotation. Lets hope his movement on his fastball and break on his slider are on the major league level. The Changeup runs deep for the MN twins system and besides Liriano and Blackburn the rest of the young rotation is Brad Radke-Clones. It hurts my heart how much I wish they would have traded/released/bought out Adam Everett or Mike Lamb or MR Gold Glove at 3rd/SS/2NB lol Nick Punto. The reason for success this year for the Twins has been Casilla and Span.
So my Ideal lineup with position in the field is also include is below:
Span-LF-Leadoff
Casilla-SS-2nd
Mauer-C-3rd
Morneau-1B-4th
Kubel-DH-5th
Cuddyer-3B/2B-6th
Young-RF-7th
Harris/Buscher-Everett-Tolbert-2B/3B-8th
Gomez-CF-9th
Delmon is Horrible in Left but could be good in right please Gardy put Span in Left Field!!! And since no trades were made getting Cuddy back means he was our deadline trade substitute addition so he better show some Leadership skills and play 3rd base or 2nd Base and let the outfield be Delmon, Carlos, and Denard. Kubel as a DH means that Cuddy’s only option to crack the lineup should be playing 2B or 3B.
Just my thoughts.
Someone named Mark used a new word today.
Prolly. Care to explain that one?
Just keep Livan on as an assistant pitching coach.
As a supporter of Livan over the past few weeks, I just want to say I think this would be the right move, both for the Twins and for Livan himself. He will, undoubtedly, land somewhere else, and he was not going to be an asset in the bullpen even if he wanted to go there. None of the other pitchers deserved to be moved from the rotation, and I think at this point there likely isn’t much else Livan can teach them. I am happy Livan was brought on board, and am pretty satisfied with the results, but it’s time to move on. If he does get released, I wish him nothing but the best wherever he ends up.
Go Twins!
What Livan has proven is, if you get behind early, don’t panic, settle down and wait for the team to score some runs. If a pitcher keeps his composure, he can settle in and finish up for a quality start. He has set an example for the young pitchers. Now, hide him somewhere in case someone mangles a finger on their pitching hand and let’s see what somebody else can do.
HEW:
I have seen the word “prolly” used here and on other blogs. It’s seems to be easier to spell than probly
prably probble proply
It’s prolly just easier.
TonyD, IF the Twins were to make the playoffs, regardless of who they faced, Livan would not be in the rotation and Boof would not be in long relief. One, possibly both, wouldn’t even be on the playoff roster. You’d use a 3-4 man rotation thanks to the off-days and the young gun(s) not in the rotation become(s) the long relief option(s).
I dont know what I think of Souhans column today.
I myself disagree on trading Liriano. But, I do think the Twins have been to timid about trading talent to get talent. I guess I was heartened by trading Garza for Young. I dont know if I like the trade now, but at the time it showed the Twins brass was coming to grips with the concept that in order to get value, you sometimes have to give up value. You just cant always keep your young prospects for the future. Sometimes the future is now, even though we are surprised to know we are in contention now.
But, I did not agree on Liriano, any of the other young guys yes, but not Liriano.
People will say that while we are in playoff contention, we will never get buy Angels, Bosox, Y anks anyway.
Thats what people said in 87 about the tigers, yet we one that best of 5 game series in four games.
anyone else for the ‘Bring up Randy Ruiz’ movement I’d like to start:
.315 vs Lefties in 111 AB. 4 HR, 17 RBIs, .881 OPS.
.321 vs Righties in 305 AB. 13 HR, 51 RBI, .909 OPS.
is top 5 in ALL OF AAA in extra base hits with 53(leader has 56). is third in doubles with 33, has 3 triples, and is up there in HRs with 17.
last 10 games: .441 avg., 6 2Bs, 3 HRs, 12 RBI.
the problem is after livan gets done eating all those innings the result usually turns out to be a pile of sh** like we all leave after we eat to much.
FYI - KFAN was discussing Livan’s contract on my drive home yesterday from work. I have a feeling if they do release him or whatever this is why:
I think they said at 160 IP he gets a $133,000.00 bonus, and then, EVERY 5 IP AFTER THAT up to 230 IP, he gets another $133,000.00 bucks. Thats not a very good deal for a guy pitching like he is.
LaVelle…I am all over bringing up Randy Ruiz. Have the Twins given a serious look at bringing up him up as a right-handed DH complement to Kubel? He is hitting .320 with 17 HRs, but does appear prone to the strikeout. Still seems he could give you more than Monroe right now.
Boof should try to reverse the course of last off-season.
He should:
1) Eat his way back to 260 (280?)lbs.
2) Regain his command and sacrifice his endurance.
3) become an outstanding (though overweight) RELIEF (endurance not a factor) pitcher.
In other words, revert to his 2006-2007 condition and become a born-again fat man.
I am surprised trade talk details have not surfaced. We must have been offering “A” league prospects and sacrificing Lamb, Adam and Eve(rett), and throwing in Boof to boot. That must have been kind of embarassing to offer for Griffey, Pudge, Manny, Texiera, Bay, Beltre and the like.
FRANCHISE!
“You people complained when I said the Twins should go after Pedro Feliz. Look up his stats with the Phillies!”
I just did. He isn’t good. A .256 / .304 / .424 line is bad.
boof could be our inning’s “EATER”
Thanks for the stats, PETE D.
Is he a pitcher? That would sway my opinion of him a little.
Just an FYI, there seems to be a feeling around baseball that Seattle’s asking prices for their players were “outrageous”, and that Seattle is a mess. This makes sense given that the only player they traded was Arthur Rhodes. This might at least partially explain the Twins’ inability to pick up an impact bat.
I am for bringing Ruiz up! He did well in spring training Too!!
i just feel bill smith failed and failed miserably…when i see griffey going for nothing and ramirez to the dodgers for virtually nothing and so many deals completed with no name people, my guess is we are not getting the straight from big double chinned bill. if he cant rape someone, then there is no deal. he has to learn to be brave enough to give up some quality to get quality.. .all i know is we have a good team that needs a little help to be serious contenders and possibly win, but the way things are now, as much as i want them to win, they wont…they have one of the toughest road trips of the year coming up(yes -weak teams but still on the road and the twins tend to play down some- not near as effective as at home) so let me ask - who would you prefer on your bench …lamb or griffey ….ramirez or everett/monroe or all of em…what i am saying is that if you want to make a trade to improve your team, you have to be creative and have some balls..both which smith lacks…..so we get the old ..maybe next year….bulls–t
mj1,
A couple things. First off, there’s always a chance Griffey didn’t want to go to Minny, but let’s assume we clear that hurdle. Why get Ken Griffey Jr just to sit him on the bench? So, yea, having him instead of Lamb would be great, but is that who we’re really replacing? More likely, he’d be replacing one of our OF’s or DH. Getting Griffey probably means less playing time for Kubel, not Lamb. The same could be said for Ramirez.
I don’t disagree with you in terms of the fact that you need to take chances to improve the team (sometimes), but I’m not sure guys like Griffey and Ramirez are really what this team was looking for. Neither one of them does anything to improve our infield which is where they were looking.
Where the heck do you play Ruiz? 100% at DH/ What a waste that would be. Could we please put the rest all the idiots talking about Cuddyer to 3b?
No wonder we didn’t call up Liriano earlier. The FO knew they weren’t going to make a deal and wanted to be able to say they did something to appease the fan base. If this actually happens, I’m appeased.
“Where the heck do you play Ruiz? 100% at DH/ What a waste that would be.”
In my opinion Ruiz would be a lot better platoon option with Kubel than Monroe is. That’s if we have to have a platoon at DH. I’d rather Kubel play full time, but if they want a RH power bat on the bench, I’ll take Ruiz over Monroe any day.
Agreed. Ruiz could platoon with Kubel. Monroe is a better option off the bench than we’ve had in the past, but that’s kind of like saying Livan is better than Ramon Ortiz.
At least Monroe can play the outfield Patrick. Ruiz is well below average defensively.
1. Option Boof…I know we wouldn’t get anything for him since he wouldn’t clear waivers - but if we were going to get anything prior to today don’t you think they would have done a deal?
2. Livan to the pen
3. Liriano to the rotation
sendric, i was only using those guys as examples of deals made, not that i want griffey, but it shows what guys could do without giving up much, and hell yes, griffey would look good behind morneau, but we just needed to do something and we did nothing—and its a shame— i just feel that where thes the will theres the way and smith failed again…. and i dont believe he cares about this year and that upsets me alot
mji,
That makes sense…just remember…it takes two teams to make a trade, and his job isn’t just to win this year, but to make sure we have a chance to compete in the future as well. I’m disappointed the Twins didn’t make a trade, but I’m also glad they didn’t make a bad trade. There’s still time, though…yesterday was just the non-waiver trade deadline, and who knows, maybe all we need is Liriano being added to the rotation.
we can only hope….maybe we can trade with chicago for kenny williams…he is the only thing about that team i like…i believe he is a true gm and he works at it…
“we can only hope….maybe we can trade with chicago for kenny williams…he is the only thing about that team i like…i believe he is a true gm and he works at it…”
Making trades just to make trades doesn’t make you intelligent. Trading for Junior doesn’t do much for the White Sox. Maybe it sells a few more tickets.
i actually loved souhans column…i think that was one chance we should have taken…obviously liriano is not the same guy we knew before and sadly he never will be- like gleeman said today he thinks he may be a good 3-4th starter- hell the world is full of guys like that– i highly doubt hes going to be an ace but certainly an improvement over liriano maybe, but we really need someone behind morneau 7 days a week, if you know what i mean
iowa you have no idea what griffey might do for that team, and thats my point…trying and failing is better than not trying at all and losing
From what I’ve read, Seattle’s asking price was absurd, not just for Beltre, but also Ibanez and Washburn (you’ll notice they didn’t get traded either). I like Beltre, and would love to see him in a Twins uniform, but not at the expense of Liriano. Remember, trading Liriano (or any of our other young pitchers) means keeping Livan.
iowa….besides he didnt cost anything, so who cares if he does nothing, but just maybe he might help alot…..so i give them credit for going out and getting him….remember a guy named don baylor and what he did for the twins…just an example….
Griffey certainly doesn’t hurt and as a result can only help the CWS. Overall, for the price it’s a positive move. Certainly better than the 9-spot thing called “Wise” from last night.
I heard a comment this morning (I think it was Mike Green) regarding Griffey to the White Sox. He basically said that Griffey probably won’t have a huge impact, but he has the opportunity to pull off a “Kirk Gibson” moment in the playoffs. I totally agree. BTW, he also mentioned Griffey’s run-producing stats have been about equal to Manny’s over the past couple years. I thought that was interesting.
i believe there is alot of #5 type starters that will be available for little or nothing soon…..byrd for example of one guy
Another thought on moving Livan to the pen (if he’ll go)…
What if “The Franchise” turns out to be “The Pitcher Formerly Known As…”? Then where are the Twins? What would the options be?
I wonder if the Twins even talked to Cincy about one of their relievers. I know for certain they could have picked up Affeldt for a fair price.
What if “The Franchise” turns out to be “The Pitcher Formerly Known As…”? Then where are the Twins? What would the options be?
Management can’t worry about what ifs. They have to make decisions based on their best information. Their best information is that Liriano gives the team a much better chance of winning than Hernandez. So you go with it. If it doesn’t work out, you go with someone else. Livan is not the answer in any event.
I don’t think Livan to the pen is wise due to most of his runs are in the 1st couple innings he pitches, Liriano WILL be better than 5.5 ERA now that his arm strength is better and he’s throwing his slider.
Yes Ruiz as a hitter only. It’s not like Monroe really plays anymore anyway. So why would having a DH type player be a waste?? And the Team is stocked with OF. Lamb pretty much never plays as well
Twins have tried Cuddy at 3B before and he’d rather play RF. Buscher and Harris are fine at 3B
If someone gets hurt, the most likely scenario is Boof gets put back in the rotation.
I’m with bringing up Ruiz as well.
We could dump Lamb and Ruiz could be the backup 1B and platoon @ DH against LHP.
That way we still have Monroe for PH duty.
So… about Liriano… the last I heard, he was due to start for the Red Wings in about six hours. The Twins FO knows by now where he’ll be tonight. Why haven’t we heard yet?
Agreed Mike, it’s certainly been a long time since we’ve heard anything. LaVelle, get out of Allory’s and get back to work!
Just got an interesting e-mail from a good friend of mine. He just got off a flight back to the Twin Cities and told me that Liriano was also on the flight. I don’t thin he’s going to make the start for the Red Wings! =)
Nice! Thanks for the report, Nick!
Just listening to KFAN and they said that their source told them Ruiz is on the plane with Liriano. They said Monroe was DFA. Be nice to know id they are right or not. Levelle please give us insight!
If/when they bring up Liriano, I think he should start Saturday and Monday so we don’t have 2 Lefties going back to back.
If Liriano starts Saturday our rotation would be:
Baker
Blackburn
Liriano
Slowey
Perkins
I like that order better than:
Baker
Blackburn
Slowey
Perkins
Liriano
Monroe DFA? Even IF Monroe is abysmal on a regular basis…he’d still be handy off the bench. I have a feeling that they’d trade him for parts before they’d just drop him.
but he has the opportunity to pull off a “Kirk Gibson” moment in the playoffs.
Sox had better hope he pulls a few moments BEFORE that or he’ll never get a chance.
“Just listening to KFAN and they said that their source told them Ruiz is on the plane with Liriano”
The same source said that Liriano was the pilot.
now i heard from Jim Mandelaro that Liriano is not coming so let the bitching begin
we’ll have to see who starts in Roch tonight
not sure why the Twins would start him though.
Livan’s next scheduled start is Monday…they may be waiting until then. Like Shawn says, let’s wait to see who is starting for the Red Wings tonight.
Check Joe C.’s blog that’s about to post in a couple minutes….
…and it’s Alary’s, not Allory’s.
its not Ryan its Ryne 
The Sandberg thing was a brain cramp. Some people here just don’t know how to spell and take their best stab at things…
..and any male who has been to Alary’s should know exactly how it’s spelled.
i just like the bit
never been to Alary’s
With Liriano’s history, you absolutely cannot use him as middle relief or bullpen. Period. Forget it. The only option is to release Livan. Despite how bad Bass and Bonser may be now, they still are quite young and throw mid nineties. The Twins will NOT simply let one go with nothing in return.
Jake,
go to Joe’s blog
Frankie has had enough of pitching in the minor leagues. He wants to rip apart the opposing lineups with his slider and fastball. He is fed up with stories about him not being good enough to pitch in the major leagues. Finally, the Twins will once again have two left handed starters in the rotation, and opposing hitters will see their batting averages decrease.
K nowin’
F acts
A in’t
N ecessary
The FO stated that they were unwilling to give up any of their 5 young starters,that’s all the other teams were interested in,therefore no deals were made.Who knows more about their organization,the professional baseball people or bloggers on this blog? They are putting their reputations and paychecks on the line,bloggers nothing!
heh, is the FO listening to me?
see my 9:08 AM post.
