Everyone is looking at Francisco Liriano's service time, and most believe the Minnesota Twins are keeping him in AAA due to his potential Super Two status. All of that is in debate of course.
But the issue should be innings pitched. Liriano is approaching 130 innings pitched on the season. Do they really want Liriano to come up and toss another 50 or so innings in a pennant race, in his first season back from TJ surgery?
This is where the discussion should be. Not his "Super Two" status
All things being almost equal, I think it’s time to bring up Francisco Liriano and give him a try. Tonight, he pitched seven innings against Toledo — one of the better teams in the International League — and shut down the Hens for seven innings on two hits and two walks over seven innings. That brought his Rochester record to 9-2, 3.13, including one earned run in his last 35 innings.
That’s a 0.26 ERA.
Right now is the time to move one of the young starters to long relief and see what Liriano can do. Having a second lefty in the rotation trumps the current arrangement, and the pitcher who gets demoted (Slowey or Blackburn) needs to see this as a chance for the Twins to make a serious run at the division — in the same way that a trade for a right-handed bat is going to cost the current right-handers some playing time.
The best scenario: Monday night at the Metrodome against the White Sox. Liriano takes Slowey’s spot in the rotation for the opener of the big four-game series. The White Sox pretty much chewed through the Twins rotation last month, so let’s give ‘em a different look and see what happens.
nearly every outing by a Twins starter is quality, including Livan (the innings eater), best scenario is they do what they did when Santana came on the scene, limit his innings and pitches by making him a reliver, then start fresh next year and if this is on their mind, they definitely don't want to go to arbitration too soon with him.