What to do with Liriano?

[henks]

Liriano has struggled a lot lately, giving up runs early and having really short outings. Gardy has said he's not ready to send Liriano to the bullpen or minors...yet. It seems like Liriano isn't trusting the catcher's calls as much as he should. He even said himself that sometimes he doesn't know what to throw in some situations.

So if he keeps struggling the way he has, then what? Perkins is aready out for a couple of weeks, and if Liriano does have to leave the rotation, who takes his place? Does R.A. Dickey fall back into the rotation?

Twins' pitching has struggled a little bit thus far. Baker needed to shake off some rust early, Liriano hasn't been his dominating self either.

What does management do?

[love_that_reefer]

Trade him back to SF

[cjkalt]

Maybe its time for a new setting

[catman]

I think having Mauer back will help a lot. The pitchers know and trust him to call the right pitch in the right situation. I would like to keep Liriano in the rotation, as his trouble usually comes early in a game. Perkins could go to the bullpen when he comes back, as his trouble comes after he has gone through the line up once. Baker is showing some signs that he is back to normal. Blackburn and Slowey have been pretty good this season.
Maybe Gardy could skip Liriano's turn on occasion, giving him some extra rest?

[realmofotalk]

Liriano hasn't been the same pitcher ever since Johan Santana was traded. Liriano is one of those guys who needs someone else to take the pressure off him to be the ace.

[catman]

I don't think anyone considers him the "ace" of the Twins' staff. He is counted on to go out and give the team 7 good innings every 5th day and he has not really done that this year. As was said, he doesn't seem to trust the catchers to call the right pitch. Having Mauer back should help that quite a bit.

[realmofotalk]

He isn't asked to anchor the staff now because of his struggles, but the expectations are never far away because he still has the highest ceiling of the staff.

[catman]

Not sure about that. His ceiling is high, to be sure, but Slowey and Baker also have top-of-the-rotation stuff. Nice to have that sort of luxury, if they all produce.