Liriano's Bid To Start With Twins May End Because Of WBC

[ThomasTomasz]

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Many of Minnesota's recent attempts to trade for hitting ended fast when the other team asked for Francisco Liriano, a prized left-hander the Twins weren't willing to give up.

Next month, though, the team could be forced to let Liriano go for a couple of weeks -- to the World Baseball Classic. That might make it difficult for the 22-year-old to make the 25-man opening day roster.

Liriano is competing with another top prospect, Scott Baker, and a handful of other young guys, for the last spot in the rotation behind Johan Santana, Brad Radke, Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse. After being selected the club's minor league pitcher of the year and striking out 237 batters last season at Double-A, Triple-A and a September stint with Minnesota, Liriano should have a great shot.

But it will be tricky for the Twins to evaluate him if he's playing for the Dominicans, especially if his role is reduced from what it would be in regular exhibitions.

"All you can see is how he does," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I don't want to punish a kid for something like that. It's quite an honor. He might be pitching great for the world games, but I might have a guy here that's blowing people away every time he gets the ball. What are you going to do? That makes it tough on all parties."

It's widely considered that the soft-spoken, 6-foot-2 Liriano has the potential to be a harder-throwing version of Santana, the 2004 AL Cy Young Award winner, who last year led the majors with 238 strikeouts.

Acquired in the November 2003 trade that sent catcher A.J. Pierzynski to San Francisco (the Giants also sent Joe Nathan, now a two-time All-Star closer, and Boof Bonser, one of the other candidates to be the No. 5 starter), Liriano went 9-2 with a 1.78 ERA in 14 starts for Rochester after a midseason promotion.

Working with Red Wings pitching coach Bobby Cuellar, who was instrumental in Santana's development, helped a lot.

"I think I got a lot of progress," Liriano said. "I had better control of everything. Just being able to throw my slider. How to pitch in a game. Pitching in different situations."

General manager Terry Ryan, who said he wishes now he wouldn't have kept Santana in the bullpen during his first two years in the majors, doesn't want Liriano to get stale in the bullpen. So if he's left out of Minnesota's rotation for now, he'll be going back to Triple-A.

That's what Santana did to start the 2002 season, and he credited that time as the turning point in his now-blossoming career. It was more valuable, then, to get regular innings even if it was for the Red Wings.

"I'm not a tourist. ... I want to play the game and pitch," Santana said.

Liriano? "Yeah, I'll be OK with that," he said.

He smiled sheepishly when asked about his value on the trade market and the Twins' refusal to deal him.

"I think it's a really good thing about me, but I really don't pay attention to that," he said. "I just want to focus on playing baseball and doing my job."

Liriano beamed even brighter when speaking about the opportunity to participate in the WBC, which requires rosters to be finalized five days before a team's opener. The Dominican Republic begins with a March 7 game against Venezuela in Orlando.

"I'm very excited about that, to represent my country," Liriano said.

Until then, if he indeed participates in the tournament, and after that, he'll be working on locating his fastball and refining his game just like every other young pitcher in camp.

"What's going to happen in spring training, we don't know," Santana said. "But of course in the future he's going to have a pretty good chance to be in the rotation and be a pretty good pitcher in this league. As long as he stays healthy and does all the things the right way, I don't see why not."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

[Saber]

I can't see the Twins being crazy enough to let him play in the WBC. It's too important.

[mntwinsfan]

I think the Twins really don't want him to play, if he does play he will be in aaa for a month or 2. Baker will start or bonser at the 5th starter spot in the rotation.