Twins Talk: Week 22 Roundtable

Francisco Liriano is making some noise down in Rochester. How would you handle his situation?

Nick Nelson, of Nick and Nick's Twins Blog: It seems to me like Liriano should be up as soon as possible. There is no reason to leave him in Rochester with the way he is pitching. He is making it very clear that he is ready.

Unfortunately, there is no one that is obviously deserving of a demotion from the Twins' rotation. They could call up Liriano as a reliever, but I don't think that would be the best course of action, all things considered.

If it were my choice, I would DFA Brian Bass, put Livan Hernandez in the long-reliever role and install Liriano in the rotation. I know the Twins prefer to have Hernandez as a starter, though.

Dan Wade: You’ve got to call him up, irrespective of the grievance BS. Yes, Perkins and Slowey are pitching well, but why settle for a B+ pitcher when Liriano appears to be back to A form? He is the best pitcher in the Twins' organization, and he appears to be as healthy as ever, ergo, he should be in the Twins’ pinstripes as soon as possible, certainly not after the White Sox series.

Carlos Gomez is hitting .250/.284/.346 as of Saturday afternoon. Why does Gardy insist on putting him in the leadoff role everyday, and what would you do if you were the manager?

Nick Nelson: Who knows why Gardenhire continually insists on leaving Gomez in the leadoff slot despite his struggles. It is pretty clear at this point that he  should be batting ninth.

Dan Wade: Well, we all got our wish last night, didn’t we? Span just overcame a mini-slump of his own, so I don’t think it was a slam-dunk decision, but it's one I agree with. Gomez needs to just relax, and I think hitting nine will allow that to happen. Span’s 2-3 with a walk certainly didn’t hurt his case.  

If you could only make one trade this year, what would it be?

Nick Nelson: I'm not sure that I would make any trade. If Casey Blake could be had for a reasonable price, I think he'd be a logical addition. It seems to me that the Twins would have to overpay for a top-tier third baseman or for a dominant eighth-inning man.

Dan Wade: Glen Perkins, Ben Revere, Jason Pridie, and Ricky Barrett for Garrett Atkins and Casey Weathers.

If you could re-name this roundtable to anything you wanted, what would you choose?

Nick Nelson: Sadly, I'm just not feeling clever enough today to come up with a very good answer to this one.

Dan Wade: Twins Security Counsel, Twins Enclave, Twins Convention.