Minnesota Twins: Why Francisco Liriano Must Be Converted to a Closer

There is no pitcher in recent Minnesota Twins history that has been as maddening as Francisco Liriano. After his sterling 2006 season in which he was untouchable, fans' expectations skyrocketed to think that Liriano would become the next Johan Santana.

Liriano would have Tommy John surgery in 2007, and since then he's been unbelievably inconsistent. The trend has continued into the early part of 2012 as Liriano has posted an ERA north of 10 in his first three starts.

There could be some Twins fans who think that the end of the road for Liriano is near, but there is one idea that could not only save Liriano's career, but fill a desperate need in the process.

Prior to the 2010 season, the Minnesota Twins needed a closer to replace Joe Nathan who needed Tommy John surgery. The Twins looked all over their organization for options and approached Liriano who has had electric stuff, but was struggling to get deep in games.

In classic Twins fashion, Liriano demanded to stay in the starting rotation and the coaching staff obliged. The chain of events lead to the current hole at closer which was filled by Jon Rauch, Matt Capps and Nathan the following year.

With Nathan heading to Texas, and nobody knowing what to expect from Capps (who struggled in 2011), it may be time to revisit the idea of Liriano jumping into the closer role.

Liriano could have more success as an end-of-game reliever than a starting pitcher. Although Liriano has had one successful full season as a starter (14-10, 3.62 ERA), the rest of his results have left something to be desired post-Tommy John surgery (20-28, 4.93 ERA excluding 2010).

Letting Liriano come out of the bullpen would allow him to use his devastating slider even more than he already does. Mixing his pitches would no longer be an issue as Liriano could run out and focus on just getting three outs and facing hitters only one time.

Having Liriano pitch just one inning would also eliminate Liriano's stuff fading as it has seemed to do this season. On the Fox Sports North telecast, Ron Coomer noticed that Liriano's pitches had less bite as the game wore on. The opponent New York Yankees took advantage of that en route to a 8-3 victory.

The elephant in the room with this idea is Liriano's tendency to become "over-amped" during games. Putting him in the closer role would allow Liriano to calm down over the course of the game and let Liriano face guys who are down by two runs and have only three outs to score them.

In other words, the ninth inning is where being an "over-amped" pitcher can be a good thing.

It would take some real fortitude to put a struggling pitcher into your closer position, but it's not like Capps has been the second coming of Mariano Rivera. If he struggles, this would be a move that the Twins should make and it could save Liriano's career.