Thread: Neal: Twins interested in bringing Liriano back

Originally Posted by PseudoSABR

If Liriano hadn't already been a Twin, he'd be the exactly the kind of pitcher we'd want them to target. Go figure.

Darn right! $4MM is likely less than what is the final offer that he signs. I think he signs for at least as much as Baker.

With Liriano, at least we have a chance of getting an ace.

At least there will be good seats available at the ballpark this year.

Originally Posted by Nick Nelson

Originally Posted by PseudoSABR

If Liriano hadn't already been a Twin, he'd be the exactly the kind of pitcher we'd want them to target. Go figure.

Bingo. I'm fully on board as long as he costs less than Feldman.

Ageed. At least he has an upside, and if he is decent and the Twins suck this year can bring another return at the trade deadline. Hoping is will be less than 4 mil, but could be and not be bad, also with an option year if possible.

Liriano should find someplace like Miami to pitch. No pressure to win and he will do fine.

La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that the Twins have had conversations with Francisco Liriano's representatives and the two sides are expected to meet at the winter meetings.

The Twins' search for starting pitching is bringing them back to a familiar face. While general manager Terry Ryan wouldn't confirm his interest in the left-hander, he didn't deny it, either. "I haven't spoken on the record about anyone we are interested in. Everyone knows we are looking for starting pitching," Ryan said. In addition to Liriano, the Twins have also been connected to Brett Myers and Joe Saunders.
Related: Twins

Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune

If 4m is the price, that's just fine. That isn't a prohibitive amount of money. There's still the Dan Haren, Joe Blanton, Ryan Dempster, etc. that the team should​ be in on. I understand the one-year desire with someone like Liriano.

Someone asked on the Trib. page

"Would we have to give back the bag of Balls???"

Liriano is a much better signing then Feldman and several other garbage options.

I am all for giving him a one year 4-5 mil deal. In a perfect world we could get a team option on him as well.

No, no, a thousand times no.

It's time to give up the ghost on "he's got ace potential" and "if he could only get his head on straight". Liriano is terrible and the Twins should let him be someone else's headache from now on.

I'd rather have Cole De Vries, Samuel Deduno, or Nick Blackburn in the rotation. We don't have to throw more bad money at those guys.

Remember we now have Bobby Cuellar on staff to help. Liriano could be his project. 3 - 4 mil a year is better than 6 million for Feldman. At least he can be good for some starts..

Originally Posted by Boom Boom

I'd rather have Cole De Vries, Samuel Deduno, or Nick Blackburn in the rotation. We don't have to throw more bad money at those guys.

I'll have whatever you are smoking.

Originally Posted by SpiritofVodkaDave

Originally Posted by Boom Boom

I'd rather have Cole De Vries, Samuel Deduno, or Nick Blackburn in the rotation. We don't have to throw more bad money at those guys.

I'll have whatever you are smoking.

Sorry bro, I'm all out.

Why not run out the terrible pitcher we already have instead of investing in a terrible pitcher we don't have?

Originally Posted by SpiritofVodkaDave

Originally Posted by Boom Boom

I'd rather have Cole De Vries, Samuel Deduno, or Nick Blackburn in the rotation. We don't have to throw more bad money at those guys.

I'll have whatever you are smoking.

im with you man. Pass that stuff over here.... Nick Blackburn are you kidding me? If Blackburn stayed in the rotation last year he could of had the WORST ERA EVER for a starting pitcher!

If he's more reasonable than Baker/Feldmen why not? The Twins should know by now how to use him; pre-emptively throw him in the pen to counter his expected April control meltdown, move him to the rotation mid-May to benefit from his June/July K/9 increase and WHIP decrease then move him at the deadline before his late season swoon kills his image. For a guy labeled "inconsistant", he's extremely predictable. If a manager/GM had the sack to use him based on his historical tendancies a team could get some good value out of him.

Exactly the kind of project that Andy excels at.

It's amazing to me how quickly people forget Liriano's stretches of brilliance over the past three years. Has he been frustrating? Yes. But the guy has legitimate talent and that's in short supply here. When you're looking for a guy on a low-cost one-year deal, you're going to have to accept some frustration and downside. We're talking about one of the league's best strikeout pitchers who is in the prime of his career.

Originally Posted by Nick Nelson

It's amazing to me how quickly people forget Liriano's stretches of brilliance over the past three years. Has he been frustrating? Yes. But the guy has legitimate talent and that's in short supply here. When you're looking for a guy on a low-cost one-year deal, you're going to have to accept some frustration and downside. We're talking about one of the league's best strikeout pitchers who is in the prime of his career.

I've heard this all before, for the last two seasons when any short-term "stretches of brilliance" from Liriano were tempered by long, arduous, painful stretches of being absolutely brutal. I don't want to try and turn him around again, and I certainly don't want to talk about how talented he is. Confidence is a talent, and one that Liriano doesn't have enough of to be a quality MLB starter.

Originally Posted by Nick Nelson

It's amazing to me how quickly people forget Liriano's stretches of brilliance over the past three years. Has he been frustrating? Yes. But the guy has legitimate talent and that's in short supply here. When you're looking for a guy on a low-cost one-year deal, you're going to have to accept some frustration and downside. We're talking about one of the league's best strikeout pitchers who is in the prime of his career.

If Aaron Gleeman were typing this post instead of me, he would respond that if the aggregate of those brilliant stretches and unquestionably horrible stretches is an end product that is still, well, pretty terrible, then it doesn't matter.

Here are Liriano's ERA's for the last 4 years: 5.80, 3.62, 5.09, 5.34. Hoping for "2010 Liriano" to happen again is like the people who expect Mauer to hit .360 with 29 HR's every year - it isn't going to happen. Moreover, he actually got slightly WORSE after going to Chicago, despite people's perceptions of that move.

Also, I really don't agree that the Twins would ever target a pitcher like Liriano as a free agent, had he not been with the team previously. Over the past 2 seasons, he's been pretty consistently a guy with 5.0+ walks per 9 innings. That's probably the biggest reason that a guy with a K/9 rate of 9.0+ can barely stay in the rotation. How would picking up a guy like that fit the Twins M.O. in any way? Liriano now is basically a slightly more wild version of what Jonathan Sanchez was prior to 2012, when he completely fell off the rails. The Twins may change their tune out of utter desperation, but there's zero track record of the Twins targeting free agent starters who miss bats but are also irreparably erratic.

Ultimately, the "boring" pitchers who manage to give up about between 3-5 runs almost EVERY game are going to be more useful to the twins than a guy who either gives up 2 runs or completely implodes.

Originally Posted by Boom Boom

I've heard this all before, for the last two seasons when any short-term "stretches of brilliance" from Liriano were tempered by long, arduous, painful stretches of being absolutely brutal. I don't want to try and turn him around again, and I certainly don't want to talk about how talented he is. Confidence is a talent, and one that Liriano doesn't have enough of to be a quality MLB starter.

Right, and let us not forget that this guy got himself dropped out of the rotation pretty quickly last year, and not just any rotation - it was possibly the worst rotation in baseball.