The great thing about Blackburn's performance this spring is it gives the Twins the luxury of starting Liriano in the minors. I think he'll have to be beyond lights-out today against the Pirates to make the club. The great thing about starting Liriano in the minors is that if Blackburn sticks, and the other young starters hold their own, there will be immense pressure on the Twins to trade Livan to open up a spot for Franchise. The sooner they get rid of Hernandez, the better.
That could very well be true. It could also raise Blackburn's value and allow us to trade him later as well, as he doesn't really fit into our long-term rotation plans.
It certainly gives the Twins options, that's for sure.
If Blackburn keeps improving why doesn't he fit into the long-term plans? He could be very good.
Just an update:
Paul Maholm was scratched from his start today due to a "stiff lower back", he'll be replaced by Phil Dumatrait.
Who do you think is faster. Revere or Go-Go?
Rich, that is very true and I'm usually not one to care about others in the system, as long as that someone is playing well. However the team has a plethora of pitchers in AA and AAA who anyone could argue have much more upside than Blackburn.
Guerra (probably a few years away still)
Swarzak
Robertson
Mulvey
Perkins
Manship
Humber
Rainville
Sosa
Duensing
McCardell
I'm not necessarily that all of those guys are better than Blackburn (however I could probably argue that all but 2-3 have more upside than him), but those are all guys that will be competing for a spot in the rotation with the next 2 years or so.
But I do agree with the statment "if it's not broken, don't fix it."
[i]Who do you think is faster. Revere or Go-Go?[/i]
I'd probably think that Go-Go is faster, however I've never seen Revere play in person (or on TV) so it's hard to compare the two. Everything that I've read though, I'd assume that Gomez is faster.
Wow - that performance by Liriano (5 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K) might just have done the trick for him.
One or two guys from the list of pitchers Josh put up will have to be traded - there just isn't room for all of them. Blackburn is a good candidate, because his value has never been higher, despite his limited ceiling. Whoever they decide to trade, they should look to pick up some high-level infielders - the Twins outfield looks to be set for many years to come.
Great performance indeed! And I totally agree, the Twins have so much depth at starting pitching that they're going to have to look into trade at least 2 or 3 of them.
Perhaps we can get a legitimate third base prospect for a couple of them? We'll see, but great day for Liriano!
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