Complaints, Complaints
By Tom Grout
July 18, 2008
Ok, so Francisco Liriano’s agent has filed a grievance against the Twins. They are wondering why the Twins haven’t called him up after he has gone to the minor leagues and is now pitching very well.
I can understand to a point why they are asking questions because, even though they have denied it, there have been times when they have kept players down to keep them from qualifying for arbitration any sooner than they want them too. But I’m not sure that is the case here.
The Twins have been playing pretty good; in fact they are only a game and a half out. One of the reasons they are where they are is that the young starting pitchers have done a good job. If the Twins were to bring up Liriano now, who would they take out of the rotation?
I won’t go into statistical details here because you can look them up yourselves but Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, and Glen Perkins have done a great job and deserve to remain in the rotation for now. The only starter you can question about performance may be Livan Hernandez. Livan has won 9 games but the Twins have scored a lot of runs for him. He is also on a run of allowing a record number of hits by a pitcher in a season and his earned run average is over 5.
I have mentioned here before that Livan comes with some other tangibles that don’t show up on a stat sheet. There is so much to some players that stat freaks who have never played the game or coached the game do not understand. Livan has pitched great at home and his value to the young pitchers may be priceless. He is also well liked by the team and if he was let go like Castillo was last year, it might not sit to good with the players. The Twins are to close in the standings now to have that happen.
I’m not sure what I would do if I was the GM. Maybe send either Slowey or Perkins to the bullpen, but that wouldn’t be fair. I could trade one of them for some needed right handed hitting. Geez, aren’t the Twins always looking for right handed hitting? I could bite the bullet and trade Hernandez.
There is no easy answer at this time, but I don’t think a grievance is going anywhere and all it does is put a leery eye on Liriano from his teammates. I do like how Gardy handled it though, by blaming the agent and not Liriano. It was a great way to smooth things out when he finally does come up to the big club. -What’s up with grievances and investigations in Minnesota sports? The Packers have filed tampering charges on the Viking because Viking coach Bevell had an abnormally amount of phone conversations with Brett Favre. Bevell and Favre are very good friends so whatever the Packers are charging the Vikings with won’t stick.
It’s pretty obvious that the Packers want to control where Favre goes. They don’t want to release him because he could sign with somebody they don’t want to sign with like say, the Vikings. I understand that football is also a business, but in this case if the Packers don’t have room for him why don’t they just let him go. I know Favre is a whiner but what is right is right. Plus I think he would look good in purple.
Yes, it has been one heck of a week for the folks who can't keep their mouths shut. I'm pretty sure that people who are in high profile positions, such as pro athletes, were taught/told that if something could....COULD cause a controversy that you say, then keep your mouth shut. Brett must be suffering brain problems from all of the hits he has taken, or maybe he really does have a brick for a brain, or maybe he just plain old is not that smart. He is either inadvertently or advertently throwing his friends under the bus and creating some really tough stuff for a franchise that has done nothing but cater to him, make him rich, named streets after him, are going to retire his jersey, etc. What an idiot.
No, Favre isn't the only idiot...we see that every day. The real idiots in "real life" which is where all of us normal middle-class people play, are the idiots that open their big mouths with "worries" when oil finally starts to stabilize or come down. But, that's a whole different topic.
The bottom line is, if something you say could (again key word could) cause a stink, then just don't say it.
You're right about the Twins and Liriano. He's got plenty of years to come play with the big boys. Unless things go sour real soon, don't rock the boat. Our boys of summer are playing admirably right now. The second half starts tonight! Let's play ball!
I think Parker has the right idea..
As far as Liriano, his agent is doing the howling, not Frankie! I am sure that an agent is hungry to make their $ just like the rest of us, but at this point, Liriano isn't quite ready to come back up. (I'd like to see him stay at Rochester until Aug)
The Vikings "troubles" are all in a pipe dream. Bevell was a coach there for the Pack and developed a 'friendship' with Favre... big deal!
Since the media has nothing else to do until camp starts a week from now, they're desperate for something to broil about.
Liriano is 8-2 for Rochester with a 3.34 ERA, 105 innings, 94 K's & 28 walks. In his last outing he threw 103 pitches, 27 were sliders and 20 of those were for strikes. When Frankie is throwing his slider for strikes, its game-over. No question he's ready for the show. No question that he's earned a promotion. The Twins Junta told him to go to Rochester and dominate. He did that.
The only question is what slot? I agree with Tom that Baker, Blackburn, Slowey & Perkins have all pitched well and haven't pitched themselves out of the rotation. And I also agree that Levan has contributed far more than his numbers indicate. Have you noticed how each of the young pitchers is throwing a changeup with so much confidence? I gotta believe that comes from watching Levan's 59 mph fluffer freeze opposing batters. Even Andy can't teach that! I also believe that our young starters are learning some composure from Levan, who never seems to get flustered, and that is priceless for a young starter.
The word seems to be that the Twins are shopping for a right handed bat. I think what the team needs right now is a blue-chip 8th inning guy. And its not being found in the combination of Guerrier, Crain & Bass. None of them is the lights-out guy that we need to make a serious post-season run. I don't think Reyes is the guy for that role, and they are not even auditioning Bonzer or Breslow. So my conclusion is that the 8th inning guy we need is not currently in the pen.
That leaves four options. First option, keep trying to develop Crain and Guerrier into the 8th inning guy. Second, try to trade Hernandez for a killer setup man. Third, plug Liriano into the rotation and move a current starter into the pen. The obvious candidate would be Perkins -- low man on the totem pole, etc. But having a quality lefty in the rotation is great -- like last night against the Rangers, a great hitting team that's vulnerable to left-handed pitching. Blackburn doesn't walk many people, but gives up too many hits for that role. Slowey and Baker are both much better suited to starting.
The fourth option is to give the job to Liriano. I don't have any doubt that he'd thrive there. He doesn't walk many. He throws heat -- now reportedly back up to 96. He's got a killer strikeout pitch -- the slider, and throws enough changeups to keep hitters hesitant to sit on his fastball. Problem is that once he hits the rotation, he has a chance to be the best starter, and he's been worked in Rochester as a starter, building his endurance, etc.
I suspect the TWins will continue to stall on Liriano foir another 2-3 weeks. That will give each of the current starters 2-3 more starts. I think the front office figures that if one of the guys gets injured or falters, then the decision makes itself on Liriano. And they'll work with what they have in the pen.
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