Tag: Francisco Liriano

GM Smith and Gardy need to make some moves

GM Bill Smith

April 30, 2011 – Damn! I am more upset at watching the Twins lose to Kansas City and Tampa the last few days than the Twins are, what is up with that? After watching the Twins lose again last night at Kansas City, I am convinced the time has come to make some moves. There is an old saying that says that the first thing you need to do when you find yourself in a hole is to STOP DIGGING! This team needs a major shake-up, a wake-up call, but I am not sure exactly what should be done first, there are so many things to do. The Twins need to find a shortstop; Casilla has had his chances time and time again and not delivered, time to move on. I don’t think Plouffe is the answer either but you might as well give him his shot. The bullpen is a mess, no one knows their roles and how long can the Twins baby Nathan? Put him in a 7th or 8th inning role and get on with it. Get some stability in the bullpen again. Liriano will never be the ace pitcher everyone has envisioned, he has the skills but he does not have the demeanor or the ability to use his skills. You have two choices here, turn him into a reliever or trade him at a diminished value. Liriano doesn’t want to be a reliever? Tough, he isn’t pitching like a big league starter right now; he might be just what they need in the bullpen. Put Slowey in the rotation to replace Liriano and give Blackburn a couple more starts to see what he can do. If he can’t get on the straight and narrow, then call up Gibson and plug him in as a starter. As much as I hate to do it, the Twins should play Cuddyer at 2B until Nishioka gets back from his broken leg. An outfield of Delmon, Span, and Kubel works for me or keep Tosoni in the outfield and bat Kubel at DH. If Repko doesn’t start hitting soon I send him down and keep Tosoni as the 4th outfielder. Forget about bringing up Ben Revere, what good is an outfield with both Span and Revere in it? Catching? You just have to make do with Butera and Holm until Mauer can get healthy again. I have to wonder what the real story is with Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau has been just plain abysmal, where is the clutch hitter we used to know? I sure hope that Morneau does not go through with what happened to Jimmie Hall after he was beaned. Valencia? Sure he leads the team in RBI’s but he could be doing so much better. What can’t I shake the feeling that Valencia is developing an attitude and thinks he is a star? Maybe it is all that time he spent hanging around A-rod? Cuddyer? Maybe the pressure of playing for a new contract is getting to him, he has not hit anywhere like he should be hitting, right now he looks like a 7 or 8 hitter at best.

You think I am too harsh here in my thoughts? Come on now, the team is 9-16 after 25 games and 15% of the games are behind them. Only three teams in baseball have won as few as 9 games, the Astros, the Padres and the Twins. I don’t think the Twins are this bad but so far they have done nothing to make you think they can get better in the near future and get back in the Central Division race where they are already 8 games back and the calendar still shows it is April. The team continues to score at a pace of 3 runs a game being our scored 128 to 80, that will not get you many wins with this pitching staff. Right or wrong, Twins management has to be thinking that Joe Vavre might be the easiest scapegoat and send him packing and bring in some fresh blood as a hitting coach. Oh, and let’s not forget our third base coach Steve Liddle in all of this. His approach to sending and stopping runners at 3B hasn’t been much to write home about either.

Ron Gardenhire

When I watch this team play I see no life, no one is having fun out there, it is just a job. At the end of the game they have their heads down as they slowly shuffle down to the clubhouse. Where is the fight in this team? The team plays like they think all they have to do is show up and they will win, the times have changed boys, the times have changed, look at the AL Central standings, it reads Royals, Indians, Tigers, White Sox and the Twins. When is someone going to kick, scream, yell and cuss that this crap has got to stop and get out on the field and lead by example by getting a clutch hit or putting an opposing batter on his butt? Do the Twins have a leader? I have not seen one, but then again Gardy and Bill Smith have not shown much leadership either.

Not much going on at the ballpark today

March 9, 2011 – Today’s visit to Hammond Stadium was pretty boring. The Twins had an away game against the Orioles and they lost their third game in a row and today it wasn’t even close as the Orioles blew them out 11-2. Francisco Liriano started and lasted just 1 2/3 innings against many Baltimore regulars while giving up 6 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks and getting one strike-out. Granted Liriano got a slow start this year but he looks like he forgot how to pitch since last fall. You have to wonder if he is hiding some injury and is headed for the DL in the near future.

On the bright side, Justin Morneau did not go to Sarasota and I watched him hit a couple of very nice pokes that would have been home runs most everywhere. He looked comfortable and was talking and joking with teammates. Nishioka, Thome, and Young all were in the group taking BP with Morneau under the watchful eye of Rod Carew. It is not as much fun going to watch practice right now as the Twins have tighter security which limits access to some of the practice fields. The minor leaguers still have not officially reported but a number of them are out there on the back fields anyway. I think the minor leaguers are due to report Thursday or Friday and then the action will pick up a bit more.

Some thoughts on what I have seen so far? Jim Hoey better pick it up soon or he won’t make the Twins bullpen and the Hardy deal will look even worse. Scott Diamond just walks too many batters and is slower than molasses on the mound. David Bromberg has been unimpressive and Jeff Manship needs to turn things around quick or he is Rochester bound. Eric Hacker who Bill Smith really likes has pitched 3 innings and given up 8 runs on 9 hits and a walk. Pavano, Blackburn and Duensing have all looked sharp and Baker and Slowey are OK. Luke Hughes is hitting the cover off the ball going 9 for 24 with 3 HR’s and 8 RBI’s. No other Twins player has more than one HR, matter of fact, the rest of the Twins hitters have a total of 3 home runs.

Watching Liriano

March 4, 2011 – I checked out Francisco Liriano’s first start of the spring on Field 3 this morning against a collection of Tampa Rays minor leaguers in a “B” game that started at 10 AM local time. I got there just as the Twins took the field and Liriano was throwing his warm up pitches. The first thing I noticed was that there was a very nice crowd already assembled to watch Liriano. The Twins keep denying that Liriano is being shopped but by my count there were at least 20 scouts there representing everyone from the Yankees to the Marlins and a lot of teams in between. There were 5 or 6 radar guns at the ready each time Liriano threw a pitch and Liriano threw 36 pitches in his first stint on the mound in a ST game. Francisco was wild and gave up 3 hits, a couple of walks and hit a batter and catcher Drew Butera went out to the mound calm his pitcher down several times. After his two innings were up pitching coach Rick Anderson pulled him aside and he talked and Liriano nodded and listened for several minutes and then Gardy joined in and he had a few comments for Francisco too. It did not appear to be an intense session, more of a “this is your first time out and maybe you can do this a bit better but all in all we are satisfied” type of a chat. I don’t know what was said for a fact because I am not a lip reader but I am just guessing based on what I saw of the body language of both Anderson and Liriano. I am sure that Francisco was disappointed in his outing and Anderson and Gardenhire were just trying to boost his morale. The big young right hander Deolis Guerra followed Liriano on the mound and he got beat around a bit, I know that Guerra is very young but he has been in organized ball since 2006 and he throws in the low 90’s regularly but he has to learn how to pitch, all he ever seems to do is throw it as hard as he can and hope that the batter misses it. Guerra is all the Twins have left from the Johan Santana trade but to me it looks like that trade will turn out to be a total bust for Minnesota. After Guerra left the game, another big righty David Bromberg took to the hill for the Twins and he too got hit around a bit. I left after 6 innings so I do not know what the final score of the game turned out to be, I had other fish to catch.

Red Sox 5 and the Twins 0

 
Scott Baker

March 2, 2011 – The Twins were home yesterday to take on the Red Sox and we were lucky enough to have four tickets right next to the Twins dugout. The Twins lost 5-0 and were never really in the ballgame but it sure was fun to watch a baseball game again. It was a cloudy and overcast day for the most part with the temp around 80 so it was a perfect day to watch a game. Just before the game started we got a few rain drops and that quickly got the capacity crowd buzzing but the dark clouds passed and all was well with the world once again. Scott Baker started for the Twins and to be honest I can’t classify his start as anything other than terrible. He had a 3 ball count on the first two batters before giving up a hit and when his Gardy went out to get him after just 1 2/3 innings Baker had thrown 40 pitches, gave up two hits, one walk and one run. Baker just seemed totally out of sync. You could not tell how fast the pitches were yesterday because the Hammond Field radar gun apparently was in spring training mode also as it showed pitches anywhere between 31 and 93 and most of the time it said 33 or 55 MPH. Nathan later took the mound for the first time and looked OK, he was probably more nervous out there than we fans were for him. Kyle Gibson looked good and you have to think that he will be in the starting rotation at some point this year. The Twins didn’t have many regulars in the line-up yesterday, just Nishioka, Casilla, Valencia, and Span but it was fun to see some of the youngsters get some playing time. Revere and Benson both made errors n the outfield and Revere again showed his weak arm. It again just confirms for me that there is no way that Span and Revere can play in the same outfield.

Francisco Liriano

The Francisco Liriano rumors continue to swirl but I just can’t understand why the Twins would want to trade him now. The only thing that I can think of is that it has something to do with Liriano’s contract and the fact that he and the Twins avoided arbitration, maybe there was some kind of “Gentlemen’s agreement” between both sides that if Liriano signed that the Twins would move him this year. I don’t see Liriano attaining true “Ace” status and his injury history has to keep the Twins management up many a night. The Yankees need a pitcher like we humans need air to breathe but I don’t see the Yankees as having the right young players that the Twins would want in exchange for Liriano unless the Twins were to get catching prospect Jesus Montero and then flip him for someone else. Montero can hit but he is a long ways from catching in the big leagues in the style that the Twins would want.

Questions everywhere

February 23, 2011 – I checked on the Twins on Monday and I stayed for about 1.5 hours but I walked away kind of bored. The position players still had not reported and the pitchers and catchers were going through their early spring routines. A few minor leaguers were taking some infield practice with TK, nothing extraordinary going on anywhere. Nishioka was as normal to this point, out on a field by himself, doing a little (and I mean little) running if you don’t count his side-kicks who apparently are his translator, nutritionist, and work-out guru. Everyone was looking for Justin Morneau and he was nowhere to be seen but he did eventually hold a news conference later in the day.

The Twins have so many questions as spring training begins, more questions than Alex Trebek has on Jeopardy. What questions? Let me list a few of them for you that come to mind right off the bat, not necessarily in order of importance. 2011 will be an interesting season at the ballpark, you can bet your bippy on it.

  •  Will Justin Morneau be able to come back from his concussion?
  • Can Joe Nathan become the same closer he was before he had TJ surgery?
  • Joe Mauer hasn’t even caught a bullpen session and he already has knee issues.
  • How will Francisco Liriano react to the trade rumors? He is not exactly a Rock of Gibraltar to begin with.
  • Can Alexi Casilla hold down a full-time middle infield spot?
  • Can Tsuyoshi Nishioka play in the majors this season and hold down a middle infield job?
  • Can Danny Valencia improve on his 2010 season without his head getting too big?
  • Can Denard Span bounce back from a poor 2010 season?
  • Can Rick Anderson make silk out of a sows ear in the bullpen?
  • Can Delmon Young repeat his breakout season?
  • Can Jim Thome last another season before his back gives out for the final time?
  • Can Jason Kubel bounce back and play the way he is capable of playing?
  • Will any Twins pitcher show some backbone and make some of those opposing batters dance in the batter’s box once in a blue moon?
  • When are the Twins batters going to quit crying that it is too hard to hit home runs at Target Field?
  • Last year the back drop at Target Field was repainted, after the season the trees have been or will soon be removed. What will Twins batters ask for next? A roof to keep the sun out of their eyes?
  • Who didn’t measure up last year in Gardy’s eyes? Scott Ullger as his third base coach or Steve Liddle as his bench coach? They swapped jobs going into 2011.
  • Can Glenn Perkins and Pat Neshek stay out of Gardy’s doghouse this year? I think they each have one strike left before they are sent packing.
  • Will Gardy actually let his players steal some bases this year?
  • Can the Twins ever get over the “Yankee” hump?

Liriano wins AL Pitcher of the Month award

May 4, 2010 – MLB announced that Francisco Liriano won the AL Pitcher of the month award. Liriano was the only starter in the AL with an ERA of under 1.00 in April. In April, Liriano had a 3-0 record when he started 4 games and pitched a total of 29 innings while striking out 27 batters and giving up only 18 hits and finishing the month with an ERA of 0.93. The last Twins pitcher to win the award was Johan Santana back in September of 2006.

It will be interesting to see if Francisco Liriano who was once dubbed “The Franchise” can continue the roll that he is on. I worry about how Liriano handles adversity, in his last start he had a rough first inning but seemed to take it all in stride. Let’s hope that Liriano is back and can assume the role of the staff ace.

Joe and Joe

March 23, 2010 – First of all, congratulations to the Minnesota Twins and Joe Mauer for getting a deal done, and in the nick of time too, because both the fans and the writers were all confident that a deal would get done and Joe would resign with Minnesota but lately some ugly rumors and discussions had started surfacing that maybe Mauer should be traded if he is not interested in signing for the “big” money that the Twins were offering. These kinds of stories could only cause ill will between all parties concerned and it is a good thing that both sides were able to get together and get a deal done before the ‘mud slinging” had a chance to really get going and things were said that would not be easily forgotten.

Now that everyone has had a chance to relax and take a deep sigh of relief after Joe Mauer signed an eight year extension for $184MM it is time for the Twins brain trust to get back to solving the next big issue, what to do about the closer problem. When Joe Nathan hurt his elbow back on March 6, he decided to take two weeks and see if he could pitch through the pain and the other day he decided at he couldn’t and now will undergo the infamous TJ or “Tommy John” surgery which has a minimum recovery time of 12 months.

Internally the names that have been discussed have been Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Jesse Crain, Pat Neshek, Anthony Slama, and Francisco Liriano but I don’t see any of these names as the answer. Let’s take a look at each one of these guys.

Jon Rauch has the most experience of the bunch with 26 career saves on the books but Gardy says that he wants a closer that can punch out a hitter when needed and Rauch’s strikeouts have dropped from 86, to 71, to 66 and 49 in the last 4 years. In addition, Rauch has given up 37 home runs in the last 4 years, I am not sure that I would like to see Rauch as my everyday closer.

Jesse Crain is also not strikeout pitcher and seems to be too inconsistent from one outing to another in my eyes to be sent out to shut the door on a team day in and day out. Having said that, Crain can be very effective for short periods of time but I would never let Crain pitch more than one inning in whatever role he is in.

Jose Mijares is the lone lefty in the group but he just lacks the experience at this stage of his career to carry the load as the teams closer. He has the stuff to do the job but his lack of experience and his questionable attitude will keep him in his current role.

Matt Guerrier probably has the right mental attitude to be a closer but I am not sure he has the “stuff” to get the job done. Matt gives up about 10 home runs a year on average and his strikeouts have dropped for the last 3 years in a row. Matt is one of the best set-up guys in the business and I would hate to weaken that spot to put him in a closer role where he might be less effective.

Pat Neshek is coming off an injury and did not pitch at all in 2009. Neshek’s funky delivery has served him well in the past but I don’t think that the Twins can thrust him into a closer role after such a long layoff. He meets Gardy’s requirement of having the “punch-out” ability and he for the most part can keep the ball in the ballpark but the recent injury is just more risk then the Twins will want to take at this time.

Francisco Liriano probably has the stuff to be the closer but his mentality will not allow him to fill that role. You have to be a “cool customer” to be a closer and not allow a bad call or runners on base to get to you and there is no way that Liriano can over come these obstacles at this point in his career. Plus you have to ask yourself, is Liriano really ready to jump back into the starter role? If he is, he is probably more valuable there then in the closer role.

How about Anthony Slama? Would you put a rookie driver in your Corvette? I think not.

So, there you have it, the Twins have a good bullpen but they have a missing piece and it is a key missing piece. The Twins don’t have the right spare part to fix their engine without going outside the organization. It won’t be a cheap fix and you have to give up something to get something but the Twins have no choice. The Twins $90+ million car has headed full speed into 2010 and right now the brakes are not working, they need to find the missing link that can slam on the brakes on the opposing team in the 9th inning of those close games when the Twins have the lead. The Twins cannot afford NOT to find a closer, and soon.

Baker on a roll

Scott Baker

Scott Baker pitched five scoreless innings to lead the Twins to a 4-1 victory over the Tigers yesterday afternoon. It marked the third consecutive start that Baker has not allowed an earned run. Over the last 35 seasons, only two other Twins pitchers have had a streak of three consecutive starts without allowing an earned run in a single season. Francisco Liriano had two three-game streaks in 2010 and Johan Santana did it in four straight starts in 2004. Source: Elias

Keep’em Dancing

Jim Kaat

To be a good pitcher they say, you need to keep the hitters off-balance and you can’t let the hitters get comfortable at the plate. If you look at the Twins pitching history, you will see that some of the Twins top pitchers were not afraid to plunk a hitter now and then. I can’t tell you for sure if these pitchers threw at batters on purpose or if they just felt that they owned the plate and they were not afraid to pitch inside, but either way, the pitchers on this list hit their share of batters and a number of these pitchers pitched in the days when they themselves had to step up to the plate to hit. Jim Kaat hit the most batters when he pitched for the Twins, hitting 89 batters (plus 7 more as a Washington Senator before he became a Minnesota Twin) but he also pitched just under 3,000 innings and he averaged a hit batter once every 33.25 innings. Mike Smithson, who certainly was not afraid to pitch inside hit 46 batters in his time with the Twins and he did this in just 816 innings so he hit a batter every 17.74 innings, far and away the most hit batters per innings pitched. Let’s take a look at the Twins top ten.

  Name Batters hit Innings Innings per hit batter
1 Jim Kaat 89 2,959 33.25
2 Bert Blyleven 80 2,566 32.08
3 Brad Radke 62 2,451 39.53
4 Jim Perry 50 1,883 37.66
5 Mike Smithson 46 816 17.74
6 Kyle Lohse 44 908 20.64
7 Scott Erickson 42 979 23.31
8 Dave Boswell 34 1,036 30.47
9 Frank Viola 29 1,772 61.10
10 Johan Santana 27 1,308 48.44

Now let’s take a look at the Twins current starters and see how they compare.

  Name Batters hit Innings Innings per hit batter
1 Scott Baker 25 915 36.60
2 Francisco Liriano 20 617 30.85
3 Nick Blackburn 17 668 39.29
4 Carl Pavano 12 397 33.08
5 Brian Duensing 6 289 48.17

 

Liriano goes on DL and Slama is called up

Francisco Liriano

The Twins placed left-hander Francisco Liriano on the disabled list, retroactive to May 23 with left shoulder inflammation after today’s 6-5 loss to the Tigers. The Twins called up right-hander Anthony Slama to replace Liriano on the roster and to pitch out of the bullpen. Anthony Swarzak will start in place of Francisco Liriano on Thursday against the Royals. Slama was drafted by the Twins in the 39th round of the 2006 amateur draft.

 

Anthony Slama

Slama was with the Twins briefly in 2010 and appeared in 5 games, had an 0-1 record and pitched just 4.2 innings giving up 4 earned runs with 5 strikeouts and 5 walks. This season, Slama has a 2-1 record in 16 games and 24.1 innings in Rochester, all in relief. Anthony has a 3.70 ERA and has struck out 24 and walked 11 batters.