Francisco Liriano, nicknamed "The Franchise" by Twins fans, is back on the mound after having Tommy John Surgery in 2007. You may remember him from his astounding 2006 campaign, complete with two AL Rookie of the Month honors, an All star appearance, and a 2.16 ERA. He's known for his slider which breaks like the 1929 stock market, plus fastball and plus changeup. He was acquired from the Giants in one of the most one sided trades since the Louisiana Purchase, and Twins fans are hoping he will take over Ace duties from Johan Santana.
Liriano had to undergo surgery to repair an arm lost for the final two months of 2006. This was caused by a throwing motion characterized as "violent"by pitching coach Rich Anderson, putting an obscene amount of strain on the young man's arm. Liriano's slider relied on this General Sherman ruthless throwing motion to generate the heat and break on his slider, and part of his recovery involves pulling some his proverbial punches.
This is bad for Twins fans in the short term. Liriano is having his slider limited by his coaching staff and his own fear. Liriano himself doesn't want to become a Mark Prior-esque "What if" case, so he'll be holding back on that motion. By taking the punch out of his best pitch, he'll never become Johan. Johan's main pitch is his Harry Houdini changeup, which comes in around 80 despite looking identical to his high 90s fastball. The changeup doesn't put that strain on his arm, so he doesn't have to worry about his arm falling off like Liriano.
Now, Lirano is still talented. At this point he's still a young guy with three above average pitches as opposed to two above average pitches and one phenomenal pitch. This change will give Liriano more consistency and longevity at the expense of effectiveness. This is in line with the route the Twins have chosen to take. They need Liriano to be there a few years down the road when they make a run for it. The rest of the division will falter in a few years--when the Tigers non-Cabrera hitting core hit old man ages, the Indians big names leave for more profitable waters, and the White Sox sluggers will become old and useless. The Twins will be back, and they need to insure Liriano will be ready when this time comes.
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4 comments:
Your observation here is right-on. Pitching a baseball is already an unnatural action and the history of baseball is littered with the fallen arms of young men who had the talent and training to do crazy things with a baseball but didn't have the extremely rare equipment to keep it up over a period of years. I'm afraid Rich Harden falls in this category. In order to do the amazing things he does with the small,compact frame he has, he has to put cartoon-like strain on his body. "and when they finally pulled his body from the twisted, burning wreck...he looked like this &$@#*!" Can we just call it "Prior-itized"?
Haha, I like "Prior-itized." Kerry Wood is another interesting case here, and we'll have to see if his frame can hold up better under relief than starting. At least it may give us a glimpse of what Harden might have been like as a starter.
Remember that Pedro used a change up as well and he sustained injuries. Baseball pitching is an unnatural motion and tiny guys have to generate much torque in order to pitch. People thought that Roy Oswalt and (hopefully not for your sake) Tim Lincecum would be injury risks. I don't know what is up with Liriano. But if he's limited, it will limit his effectiveness.
The Cubs are a study in how not to use young pitchers as Big Z is the only one who lasted. I'd look out if I were Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, and Homer Bailey. Look who's managing us now!!!!
There's a rather humorous bit about Baker at http://www.firejoemorgan.com/ (second one from the top as of this writing.) The writer there points out that he would've traded Homer Bailey and Joey Votto for Joe Blanton, and if that would've happened, I think I might've creamed my pants in joy.
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