Twins ace Francisco Liriano is under team control though 2012 and he’s coming off a season that looks as though he’s back on track to being the ace he looked like he’d be before Tommy John surgery. Normally that would make a guy a candidate for a long-term extension. The Twins, however, may be thinking differently about it. Here’s Joe Christensen:
Christensen hears that long-term talks between the Twins and Liriano went nowhere and cites his injury history -- and his continued reliance on his arm-taxing slider -- as things that make the Twins wary of making a long commitment to the guy. There’s a lot in the article about Liriano allegedly “came up short in big situations” last year. It’s mentioned that “in his final 20 starts, including the postseason, he didn’t finish the eighth inning once.”
While Liriano is no CC Sabathia or Felix Hernandez when it comes to being a workhorse, that’s not a comparison a lot of pitchers will win. Liriano had the same number of total eight-inning starts as Jered Weaver, Brett Myers, Mat Latos and John Lackey last year, so it’s not like he’s awful or anything. The dude is a fantastic pitcher. As such, it’s kind of puzzling for me to see so much negativity thrown on him here. For Twins fans’ sake I hope that’s all Christensen’s own analysis and not the opinion of the front office. Because if the front office thinks Liriano is as expendable as the article makes him seem, they’re not going to get true value for the guy if and when they trade him.