Did Ron Gardenhire Push Francisco Liriano Too Much Too Soon?

Since I have Minnesota Twins’ LHP Francisco Liriano on my fantasy team this year, I have taken a particular interest in watching him pitch. As you could imagine, I was quite delighted to see Liriano get off to a 5-0 start.

Liriano has been roughed lately

Since then, Liriano has hit sort of a rough patch. Over his last three starts, he hasn’t quite resembled the pitcher that looked like he was going to win the AL Cy Young award in April.

So what’s been wrong with Liriano over his last three starts? I think we might have to look back to his fifth start against the Cleveland Indians to answer that question.

In that start against the Indians, Liriano was cruising along for six innings and had thrown 104 pitches — a good amount for six innings of work and for a guy who had a history of arm problems.

With the Twins already leading 6-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, I didn’t think there was a chance Liriano would come out to pitch the seventh. But he did. Liriano came out and despite not allowing a run in the inning, had his pitch count raised to 123 pitches.

As Tom Seaver always says — and I agree with him — it’s not the number of pitches the pitcher throws, but the amount of stress the pitches are thrown under. Liriano threw those 123 pitches under a lot of stress that day in Cleveland.

Liriano gave up eight hits and walked three, so he always had runners on base. In my opinion, Twins’ manager Ron Gardenhire pushed Liriano and I think it has cost his team.

Let’s look at Liriano’s first five starts as compared to his last three:

First five: 5-0, 1.50 ERA, 26 H, 6 R, 9 K/9 in 36 IP

Last three: 0-3, 7.22 ERA, 24 H, 13 R, 5 K/9 in 16.2 IP

Of course, this all could be just a coincidence, but I don’t think it is. Since that start in Cleveland, Liriano hasn’t had that extra life on his fastball and his command has been really off as the numbers above indicate. That could be a sign of arm fatigue.

Liriano has the potential to the be ace the Twins need in the postseason. He could be their meal ticket to the World Series, so they would be wise not to push him too hard early on. The Twins have an off day on Monday and I would use that to give Liriano an extra day’s rest.

Gardenhire pushed Liriano now he is paying for it. Hoepfully, for the sake of the Twins’ 2010 season, this is just a rough patch and not a trend.

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