Francisco Liriano

I really hope that Franky can recover from surgery to get back to where he was... or even anything close.  In these 2 starts that he has had this year, he is average at best.  Actually, worse than that... he has average stuff- but horrible location.  

He was so dominant for half a season in 2006-  He went through a stretch where he was something like 11-1 with an ERA under 2.00...  and now, he is not even a shadow of that.   
His fastball is barely 90 when he was consistently firing it at 97-98 a year and a half ago...  His slider was even in the 90-92 range back in '06.  When you have dominant stuff like that, you can afford to have less than pinpoint accuracy, which is what he has always been.  But now, with an 89-91 mph fastball and a 79-82 mph slider, he is just like every other average MLB pitcher who goes 8-10 with an ERA of around 5.00

I really hope he can get back to where he was- especially since we had to let Santana go.  Do any of you think he'll rebound the way we hope?  I'm pessimistic-

Nope, no way he'll be the same dominating pitcher. He might acheive "solid" status again, but gone is the wunderkind we knew and loved.

Yep, I just wrote him off.  

I don't think he's truly lost it for good, but he IS just coming off surgury.  He has to build up that velocity, work on his mechanics and control.  He hasn't had a heck of a lot of time to face live hitting.

Judge him after the 2nd half of the season because we should see who the real Liriano is around that time...

malmstorm:

I don't think he's truly lost it for good, but he IS just coming off surgury.  He has to build up that velocity, work on his mechanics and control.  He hasn't had a heck of a lot of time to face live hitting.

Judge him after the 2nd half of the season because we should see who the real Liriano is around that time...

I agree.  I also think his stamina is something he'll have to rebuild.  He seems to come out of the gates decently, but fades by the fourth inning.  He gets tired and his control is reduced and then he needs more pitches per batter... a vicious cycle.  

The good thing is, he has occassionally hit 93-95 but that was when he is forcing it so much, that it sails up & away from righties and he hops off the mound wierd & stuff.  At least it is showing that his arm can physically throw that hard.

Hopefully soon he'll be strong enough to throw that hard consistently and not tire out after 60 pitches, then start forcing himself to throw hard enough to stay above 90, get wild, walk hitters, etc. 

Still, I would be pleasantly surprised to see him get back to a consistent 96-98... I doubt it, but we'll see

StuperDave:

The good thing is, he has occassionally hit 93-95 but that was when he is forcing it so much, that it sails up & away from righties and he hops off the mound wierd & stuff.  At least it is showing that his arm can physically throw that hard.

Hopefully soon he'll be strong enough to throw that hard consistently and not tire out after 60 pitches, then start forcing himself to throw hard enough to stay above 90, get wild, walk hitters, etc. 

Still, I would be pleasantly surprised to see him get back to a consistent 96-98... I doubt it, but we'll see

Sadly I think the guy that was throwing 97mph sliders is no longer there. 

whoa. 

Cooper:

StuperDave:

The good thing is, he has occassionally hit 93-95 but that was when he is forcing it so much, that it sails up & away from righties and he hops off the mound wierd & stuff.  At least it is showing that his arm can physically throw that hard.

Hopefully soon he'll be strong enough to throw that hard consistently and not tire out after 60 pitches, then start forcing himself to throw hard enough to stay above 90, get wild, walk hitters, etc. 

Still, I would be pleasantly surprised to see him get back to a consistent 96-98... I doubt it, but we'll see

Sadly I think the guy that was throwing 97mph sliders that move is no longer there. 

Fixed it for myself.

What was your favorite Francisco Liriano moment? Might as well wax nostalgic cuz it's over, I'm tellin' ya.