One of the most dominant pitchers in the league, two summers ago, is back after missing the entire 2007 season due to Tommy John surgery. Yesterday, he recorded his first win after throwing six scoreless innings and striking out five against the Indians. Its been a long road back for the hard throwing lefty as he started out 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA in the first month of the season. After being sent to the minors, he slowly began to turn things around. In his final month with the Red Wings (I just had to plug the name of their AAA affiliate) he went 5-0 with a 1.21 ERA.
This string of dominance is impressive, but I wouldn't get too excited. Tommy John surgery has been the kiss of death for a lot of pitchers and while Liriano is looking good so far, he'll never be the way he was in 2006. He should still get a fair share of strikeouts and his ERA should be around 3-4. If your pitchers are set, then I wouldn't recommend taking a chance on him. His "Johan Santana imitation" days are gone. However, if you're on the edge of making/missing the playoffs and could use a boost from your pitchers, Liriano is a solid pickup and who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and he'll have a couple big strikeout games for you.
(Photo by Andy King/AP)
Posted
Aug 04 2008, 12:32 PM
by
Nick Fruscello