Bleacher Report - Articles by Grant Hadlich

A New Power Ranking System For 2009

Grant Hadlich — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:30:17 -0500

The period between the last game of the World Series and the start of spring training can feel down right boring, especially if your favorite team isn't exactly a stalwart in the game that is free agency. Over the last week, when the boredom reached a peak, I decided to formulate a power ranking system for baseball. This ranking system takes into account how good a team's offense is in comparison with its pitching and vice versa. I decided not to use the straight up runs scored and runs against in the calculation, but the method does use a variation of that. One thing that I did want to include in these rankings is actual won-loss record and the all important record within a team's own division. No matter how good or bad the division a team plays in happens to be, a team with a bad intradivision record isn't going anywhere. These are the rankings at the end of the 2008 regular season:

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Francisco Liriano Proves His Worth

Grant Hadlich — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:17:27 -0400

0.2 innings, 5 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO

That was Francisco Liriano's line on April 24. It was the low point of the season for the Twins' young left hander.

Coming off Tommy John's surgery, being out of the league since 2006, and having been unable to attend the beginning of spring due to Visa problems had clearly affected Liriano not only physically, but mentally as well.

The Twins were forced to demote Liriano to Triple-A Rochester to hone his control. He also needed to regain confidence in himself and in his pitching ability.

Fast forward four months and Liriano is a changed pitcher.

In three starts in April, Liriano gave up 13 earned runs in 10.1 innings of work for an ERA of 11.32. In his first three starts in August, "Franchise" gave up only three earned runs in 18.2 innings, compiling a 1.48 ERA.

After three outstanding performances in August, Francisco has more than halved his season ERA from 11.32 down to 4.97.

By comparison, Livan Hernandez, the pitcher the Twins released to open up a roster spot for Liriano, has been less than spectacular. In his first start for the Colorado Rockies, Hernandez gave up nine runs in 2.2 innings against the offensively anemic San Diego Padres.

The Minnesota Twins have been reaping the rewards since virtually trading Hernandez for Liriano. Minnesota is 3-0 and has moved into first place all three times that Liriano has started a ballgame since his Aug. 1 call up.

The Twins can only hope that Liriano continues his stellar pitching as the team seeks to win its fifth division title in seven years.

Francisco Liriano Makes His Case For a Call Up

Grant Hadlich — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:32:31 -0400

When the Minnesota Twins sent down Francisco Liriano at the beginning of this season, things did not look good.

When the Twins phenom was sent down to Triple-A, his numbers were staggering and not in a good way. Sporting a WHIP of 2.71 and an ERA of 11.32 in 10.1 innings, it was clear that the young southpaw was not ready for major league hitters after his Tommy John surgery.

After working on his control problems in the minors, Liriano is making a strong argument for his return to the Twins. His last four starts have been dominant to the tune of 28 IP, 17 hits, 32 strikeouts, and only three walks, all the while giving up only one run en route to an ERA of 0.32, a 0.71 WHIP, and for those interested a SWIP of 1.25.

While the ERA is eye popping, the most important stat is the WHIP of 0.71. Before being called up by the Twins in 2005, Liriano recorded a 0.88 WHIP in 16 starts at Triple-A, so a sub-1 WHIP for Liriano is not unheard of and is a very good sign that his control has sharpened considerably.

When the Twins call up Liriano, the question arises on who to demote/release. Livan Hernandez is the obvious answer. In his last 10 starts, Livan has a 7.28 ERA, all the while amassing an awful WHIP of 1.89. Not exactly Cy Young numbers.

The one big problem with releasing Livan is the youth of the Minnesota Twins' pitchers. None of the Twins' young pitchers has ever approached 200 innings at the major league level, the closest being Boof Bonser when he threw 173 innings for the Twins last year, so durability might become a question mark.

One solution to this problem is to have a six man rotation with Hernandez, Baker, Perkins, Slowey, Blackburn, and Liriano. This approach would reduce the number of innings pitched by the young pitchers, all the while increasing the amount of rest between starts.

With Boof Bonser as an insurance policy, the Twins should release or trade Livan to make room for Liriano in the starting rotation. If one of the starters starts to develop a dead arm or simply tires out, Boof could be placed in the rotation while the other pitcher is placed in the bullpen.

As of right now, trading Livan Hernandez for Francisco Liriano is a must for the Twins if they are serious about making it to the playoffs.

Twins Need to Pull The Trigger On Beltre

Grant Hadlich — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:52:16 -0400

When the July 31 trade deadline passes, it will be obvious whether the Minnesota Twins are contenders or pretenders in 2008.

To end out the month of July, the Twins have a huge four game series with the AL Central leading, White Sox, in what is shaping up as a potential Battle Royal.

While the White Sox seem intent on standing pat at the trade deadline, the Twins, on the other hand, need to make a move before the deadline.

Enter Adrian Beltre.

Minnesota has lacked a big bat playing at third for most of the decade and Twins' General Manager, Bill Smith, should take the initiative to change that.

Justin Morneau, fresh off winning the HR Derby and scoring the winning run in the All-Star game, would be first in line to thank Minnesota's newest, GM as Beltre would offer much more protection for Morneau than current Twins' DH Jason Kubel.

This year, Justin has 68 RBIs and is second in the AL in hitting at .323 without any significant protection behind him.

Another aspect that Adrian Beltre brings to the Twins is an impact right-handed batter.

Finger issue’s all year and Delmon Young simply is not producing at a high level has hampered Michael Cuddyer.

The best right-handed batter in the Twins starting lineup is Alexi Casilla and he is switch hitter.

The rest of the right-handed batters in the Twins lineup have been inconsistent at best.

Adding Beltre would give this Twins team a big boost from the right-handed batter's box.

Adrian Beltre is no slouch defensively at 3B either.

Coming off of winning the Gold Glove at third base last season, Beltre would fit perfectly into the Twins philosophy of playing great, fundamentally sound defense in the field.

With the addition of Beltre at third, Minnesota would have a defensively dynamic infield of Morneau at first, Casilla at second, Nick Punto at short, and Beltre at third.

This is quite an improvement over the Twins' slow, error prone group of opening day starters, which included the likes of Mike Lamb, Adam Everett, and Brendan Harris.

With a fleet footed outfield including Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, and Delmon Young and a rebuild infield, the Twins will have gone from one of the worst defensive teams in the AL to one of the AL's best.

Seattle mired in a dismal season and wishing to dump Beltre's contract, might just trade him for good prospects if the Twins eat most, if not all, of Beltre's contract.

Minnesota would be happy to pay his contract, seeing as the team failed to sign free agents Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, and Carlos Silva.

Trading for Beltre just makes sense for the Twins.