Comments on: Work fast, change speeds, throw strikes. (Nick Blackburn teaches Francisco Liriano a lesson.)

By: romer

romer — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:27:43 +0000

And Liriano had another great bull pen yesterday. He’s almost there.

By: don soukup

don soukup — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:06:47 +0000

Cut Liriano some slack. Who that had that surgery has done better than he has. He has the potential to make a serious difference in the team performance, much more so than any other pitcher in the system. Someone else may be able to win a couple of more games in the interim but his development(mental as well as physical) is more important to the team than a couple of more wins by someone without his upside.

By: SweetOne

SweetOne — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:52:16 +0000

Liriano,

According to Anderson, Liriano’s problem is more mental than mechanical. Anderson has stated that Liriano’s last 2 BP sessions has been phenomenal. He hits his spots with all of his pitches.

He just has to carry that over into the games.

By: Todd Anthony

Todd Anthony — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:48:46 +0000

It’s ironic; many comments I read on the various Strib blogs would have led me to believe the Twins were going to “make a run” with a “healthy” Liriano and a still-in-Twins-uniform Santana. And now we’re clamoring for him to be sent down? What a fickle bunch we are.

By the way, I see LNP has either surpassed .300 or is closing in on it. Do we love him now also?

By: Keep(JohanAndTorii)AtAnyPrice

Keep(JohanAndTorii)AtAnyPrice — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:36:39 +0000

I was at the game on Friday for Liriano’s first start in the dome this season (pathetic game by the way, Twins: 2 hits, both of the infield variety, against Cliff Lee, who?), and from what I saw, Liriano’s only problem right now is regaining his command, he hit 93 on the dome radar gun a few times, so the velocity is almost back. His changeup was throwing hitters off, and honestly his slider was his best pitch that day. He definitely was struggling to stay in the strike zone though, 93 pitches in 5 innings and 5 walks are far too many.

One unfortunate sidenote which I think will take Liriano even longer to adjust to is that he no longer has the ability to throw that slider in the upper 80’s low 90’s, watching the radar gun in the dome, his changeup was coming in at 78-81, and his slider was going 81-83, which isn’t a very big speed difference, so Liriano has lost much of his ability to keep guys off balance as far as velocity, he used to have the 95+ fastball, 80ish changeup, and the 88+ slider, 3 distinct, varied speeds. Now he has the 90+ fastball, 80ish changeup, and 80ish slider, I think that will be one of the biggest adjustments he has to make in using his pitches effectively.

By: cmathewson

cmathewson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:15:48 +0000

Who is better than Liriano in the minors right now? Mulvey? Perhaps. Liriano’s last outing was not bad. Perhaps Mulvey would have done better. But we don’t know. In the meantime, if he keeps taking baby steps to regain his command, he’ll be better than Mulvey in a start or two. I don’t think there’s much point in sending him down, unless he starts regressing.