You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?867-The-Francisco-Liriano-Postmortem

Yes, he will be great again and the Twins will have to face him many more times.

Wait, so you mean that it wasn't Drew Butera that was making him good?

Interesting secondary note. The qualifying offer is expected to be about a million more than originally expected - about 13.4 or so.

Interesting secondary note. The qualifying offer is expected to be about a million more than originally expected - about 13.4 or so.

I can definitely see the Twins balking at a $13M+ offer to almost any pitcher, let alone one they seem to have little confidence in.

"In my opinion, barring any injury, Liriano should finish this season out strong and will be a high-risk, high-reward signing for another team this offseason."

 

Great video analysis as always by Parker. This last comment is an equivocation though and kind-of epitomizes Liriano's career. The Twins, and their future payrolls apparently heading back towards KC Royals-level, have for all intents and purposes stated they no longer will risk any high-reward possibilities that entail salary commitments for pitching of over $3-5M/yr.

Another insightful analysis. I just hope that the White Sox don't read this.

Will he be a free agent after this season?

 

If so, hopefully he goes to the NL or comes back here, although this has all the makings of a disastrous Twins deal that hurts for years.

Edited August 1, 201214 yr by Monkeypaws
second thought

Wait, so you mean that it wasn't Drew Butera that was making him good?

still trying to figure out how he did it without 'the pitching whisperer'.......baffling

Well they were in the same ballpark, that has to count for something doesn't it?

I didn't realize that the pitcher whisperer qualities went beyond teams... It's almost like there's some sort of ESP going on here...

Liriano can be impressive and he pitched a good a game against the Twins. Of course Blackburn pitched a better one against the White Sox. Which sort of got lost since the Twins lost and the focus was on Liriano.

 

I understand the phrases high risk-high reward as associated with Liriano. I rather suspect the high risk is the important part. The chance of a high reward is likely pretty small. Which, afterall is why the return for Liriano in the trade was considered disappointing by some. No one was going to give up much for someone with Liriano's track record.

 

Having major league stuff, good velocity and a great arm are important for a pitcher. But, you need to hold your mechanics together, understand how to pitch and be able to recover when things go wrong. Maybe all of that will come together for Liriano but if it hasn't happened by now it probably won't.

Liriano was worth the trouble and the money. It's not like the Twins are ever going to have pitchers even a little better than him (talent-wise) walking through the door every day.

 

The Twins coaching staff, Gardy in particular, seems to have a resistance to attempting to coach mercurial players. Their track record indicates they will gladly trade away talent for something low maintenance and of lesser quality.