2008 Minnesota Twins

[mvb34]

Does anyone know the staus of Francisco Liriano?

[bergie56]

Quote: Originally Posted by mvb34

Does anyone know the staus of Francisco Liriano?

He is supposedly doing absolutely fine and on pace to start the season in the rotation. I would imagine he will be our number one starter now that Santana is gone. Here is my guess at our starting lineup (not actual order)

C Mauer
1B Morneau
2B Cassila
3B Lamb
SS Everett
LF Young
CF Gomez
RF Cuddyer
DH Kubel

[Rod_Carew29]

I'll take a guess...why not? With the lineup based on what you listed:

1-Casilla
2-Everett
3-Mauer
4-Cuddyer
5-Morneau
6-Young
7-Lamb
8-Kubell
9-Gomez

Quote: Originally Posted by bergie56

He is supposedly doing absolutely fine and on pace to start the season in the rotation. I would imagine he will be our number one starter now that Santana is gone. Here is my guess at our starting lineup (not actual order) C Mauer 1B Morneau 2B Cassila 3B Lamb SS Everett LF Young CF Gomez RF Cuddyer DH Kubel

[dust247]

I guess I should join in on the party and make a prediction for the opening day roster too.

Stating Rotation
1. Francisco Liriano
2. Boof Bonser
3. Scott Baker
4. Kevin Slowey
5. Glenn Perkins

Bullpen
1. Joe Nathan
2. Juan Rincon
3. Jesse Crain
4. Dennys Reyes
5. Pat Neshek
6. Matt Guerrier

Defensive Allignment
C - Joe Mauer
1B - Justin Morneau
2B - Brendan Harris
SS - Adam Everett
3B - Mike Lamb
LF - Delmon Young
CF - Carlos Gomez
RF - Michael Cuddyer
DH - Jason Kubel / Craig Monroe

Batting Order
1. Brendan Harris (R)
2. Carlos Comez (R)
3. Joe Mauer (L)
4. Delmon Young (R)
5. Justin Morneau (L)
6. Michael Cuddyer (R)
7. Jason Kubel (L) / Craig Monroe (R)
8. Mike Lamb (L)
9. Adam Evertt (R)

Bench
1. OF Craig Monroe / Jason Kubel
2. IF Nick Punto
3. C Mike Redmond
4. 1B/OF Garrett Jones
5. IF Alexi Casilla

Notes - I have Glen Perkins in the rotation just so we have two lefties. I'm not sure about Jesse Crain's health, but I'm assuming he should be ready by to go soon. As for the line-up, I'm still questionable on whether Harris is even remotely capable of leading off.

[bergie56]

http://nc.startribune.com/blogs/christensen/?p=486

The Twins signed Livan Hernandez to a 1 year deal today for $5 million. The deal doesn't do a whole lot for me, but it is nice to have an innings eater on the staff since we lost two in Santana and Silva this offseason.

[dust247]

I like the idea, but I don't like the fact that we offered him a $5M contract. Seems a little high to me for someone who struggled as a starter in the NL West last year. I'd rather see our six or seven young guns battle it out to make the rotation, than bring in a veteran off another team. The bright side is, if we somehow get off to a good start, we could really feed off a veteran pitcher like Hernandez.

Now we just need to figure out who is going to start in center field...

[snepp]

The only thing Livan is going to be eating is the post-game buffet.

Take a gander at this less-than-impressive trend...

K/BB
2003 3.12
2004 2.24
2005 1.75
2006 1.64
2007 1.14

OPS against
2003 .691
2004 .698
2005 .770
2006 .797
2007 .863

All of this in the NL as well.

This signing has exhausted bullpen written all over it. He's going to be nothing more than another Sidney Pontoon / Ramon Ortiz / RonDL White / Tony Fatista with a larger contract.

[dust247]

Quote: Originally Posted by snepp

The only thing Livan is going to be eating is the post-game buffet.

Wasn't it stated that he'd just be filling the gap left by Silva?

[snepp]

Quote: Originally Posted by dust247

Wasn't it stated that he'd just be filling the gap left by Silva?

LOL!

That's one hell of a gap, but I think Livan is up to it.

[dust247]

Liriano just finished up his Spring Training debut going 1.2 innings with 1 strikeout, 1 walk, 2 allowed hits, and 0 runs allowed. Not bad considering he's been out for over a year.