After making a warm-weather tune-up start in Ft. Myers to start the season, Francisco Liriano moved up to Class-AAA Rochester to make his second start last night. A quote from Ron Gardenhire in yesterday's Star Tribune indicated that if all went well for Liriano in his outing with the Red Wings, he could potentially start for the Twins on Sunday, when injured Kevin Slowey's spot in the rotation comes up. "The one thing we know is Frankie is right on line for [Sunday] ... if we choose to go that way, if Slowey's not going to make it," Gardenhire said.
Well, to say "all went well" for Liriano last night would be a pretty big stretch. He labored through four innings against Norfolk, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks while recording three strikeouts. Liriano needed 88 pitches to get through four innings, just 53 of which were strikes.
My guess is that that the underwhelming outing from Liriano likely eliminates any chance that he will be starting for the Twins this weekend, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. His command continues to be an issue, which is excusable, but he'll need to start cutting down his pitch counts and throwing the ball in the zone before he starts facing major-league hitters in regular-season games.
Still, with Liriano out of the picture, the Twins will need to find someone to make a spot start on Sunday in the event that Slowey's bullpen session today does not yield positive results. That pitcher could be long reliever Brian Bass, which would be convenient because it would prevent the Twins from needing to make any roster moves. Yet, Bass has been hit hard in his two appearances this year, surrendering three home runs over 4 2/3 innings. Other possibilities would include calling up Brian Duensing, Kevin Mulvey (who pitched well in his Rochester debut on Monday) or Phil Humber (although Humber is out of options so the Twins probably won't call him up until they believe he'll be up for good). It should be interested to see how this situation shakes out if Slowey is unable to go on Sunday.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
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6 comments:
Isn't Humber in his last option year, thus he can be sent down as much as they wish all year? In that case, there wouldn't be a problem with sending him down should he struggle. I could be wrong, though. I really don't fully understand the intricacies of the options.
Humber has one option left, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to send him down to Rochester to start the season. He could come up and go back down all year.
There is a rule that if a player signs a Major League contract out of the draft, the team gets an extra option year. So, he's safe.
I don't even like Bass in the long relief role. He's good for 2 innings, tops. It would be fun to see one of the Twins' good AAA pitchers on Sunday.
You guys are right on Humber, I was confused. I still would be surprised if he gets the call though.
Random prediction: the Twins are going to win in blowout fashion tonight.
Perfect time for Humber to get an opportunity. He had a solid spring. Using Bass, besides the fact he could very well get lit up, could put some undue stress on the bullpen.
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