Liriano to Skip Next Start

According to Rhett Bollinger, Ron Gardenhire confirmed that Francisco Liriano will skip his next scheduled start and will make his next start in Anaheim on May 1. Gardy said that he attributes Liriano's troubles to both mechanical issues as well as nerves with guys on base. He said that Anderson will watch Liriano throw BP sessions this Thursday and Saturday as they watch for progress.

After Liriano's last start, Gardy said that they would "take a step back" and look at what the next step is for Liriano. I guess they figured that skipping a start was better than sending him to the bullpen. I guess I am not sure if I think this is the right approach. I know with a lot of pitchers I would say skipping a start would be the right thing, but right now Liriano has so much wrong with him that I would advocate that mop up duty in the bullpen might be the best way for him to work on things.

If Gardy were to send Liriano to the bullpen, then the question becomes who takes over as a starter. I know that some have said that Diamond deserves to be brought up and given a shot based on his four excellent outings at AAA so far this year. I agree with this, but I also think swapping Swarzak with Liriano would be okay as well. I do not think Swarzak is a long term solution in the starting rotation, but other than his bad outing against the Yankees he did fine in his first couple of starts of the season. I think he would be serviceable going forward if we were to go the "Liriano to bullpen" route. This would allow the team to evaluate Liriano in some non-meaningful situations and decide if he can eventually come back to the rotation or is best suited to be a reliever.

This a difficult situation to say the least. I am glad I am not the one in charge of deciding what to do with Liriano, but I hope the Twins can figure something out.