Comments on: Liriano is not The Franchise

By: Fire Gardy » Neyer is optimistic about Liriano, for some reason

Fire Gardy » Neyer is optimistic about Liriano, for some reason — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:13:25 +0000

[...] guess he also hasn’t taken a look at Liriano’s struggles the second time through the order, which I’ve talked about in the past: The first time through the lineup, opponents hit just [...]

By: sirsean

sirsean — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:18:06 +0000

Middle relief wouldn't be any easier on his arm if Gardy's the manager.

See: Crain, Neshek, Guerrier, Rincon. Also all those other guys whose arms fell off because Gardy got that warm fuzzy feeling from pitching every single pitcher every single game.

By: Eisenhower McSteele

Eisenhower McSteele — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:54:19 +0000

I’ve been arguing for Liriano to move to the ‘pen all this week at the MnTwins Re-Education Center. While I agree that starters are much more valuable than relievers, the variable you have to factor into this equation is Ron Gardenhire’s stupidity. His overmanagement of the pitching staff means that a good handful of games (10-15) will be lost because of his managerial decisions regarding the bullpen in innings 7 and 8. Because the regime refuses to stretch their starters out, and because they refuse to let Joe Nathan go more than one inning, middle-relievers for the Twins are perhaps more important to their success than other teams. They won 4 division titles from 02-06 because of a steady middle-relief, and it’s no surprise that they haven’t won anything since then, as it’s coincided with the deterioration of the middle relief. Liriano has the stuff to be dominant in a short-relief role, and it would also be kinder on his arm. It makes plenty of logical sense to move Liriano to the bullpen, which means that the Twins probably won’t do it, or will wait too late to do it (Liriano blowing out his arm again, e.g.)

By: sirsean

sirsean — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:05:17 +0000

Ah yes, I recall being furious at Tolbert for a) not catching it, and b) if you're not going to catch it, don't knock it away from the outfielder coming in. I guess I just forgot it was that inning.

I guess it's up for debate whether Perkins or Liriano would be better in the pen. I think Liriano has the stuff to be a good reliever, and the numbers seem to indicate that he lacks the makeup and/or ability to make adjustments necessary to be a starter. But Perkins has had some success there already.

I've been souring on Anderson for a while now. He's nuts about the sinker ... and I think it's notable that the only starter on the staff that throws one (The Blackburn) is the only one who's capable of pitching any more. I like Anderson, but it very well may be time for a change. Or he could just learn to adjust his style to the talents of the pitchers.

By: thrylos98

thrylos98 — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:12:23 +0000

The misplay on the bloop allowed the runner to reach. It should have been an error on Tolbert (and not an ER) because the ball got in and out of his glove. I think that Souhan confused the plays :)

That said, Liriano needs to use his change up more. I generally trust him more than Perkins at this point, and Perkins would probably be better at the pen. I'd love to see the Twins replace Andy with Cuellar so all Twins' pitchers start working and using change ups. Every pitcher not named Blackburn or Guerrier has regressed from last season. This has to be on Andy, a tad...