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Twins roster surprises, Liriano

Written by Paul Raymond in Monday, March 24th 2008 under MLB, Twins

The Minnesota Twins started to make their final cuts on Monday morning. The following players were optioned to Triple-A Rochester - Philip Humber, Denard Span, Brian Buscher and Jason Pridie. Pitcher Chris Daigle was also reassigned to the minor league camp. So I said roster surprises in the headline and I’m sure you are saying “no surprise with those moves”. Well here is how this shakes out for two players, Francisco Liriano and Carlos Gomez.

Lets start with OF Carlos Gomez. With Pridie being sent to AAA, it looks like the starting center field spot is Gomez for the taking. This spring he’s batted .286 with a homer , 6 rbi and 10 stolen bases. Pridie had comparable numbers and gave Gomez a huge run for the final outfield spot, but its just to crowded in Minnesota. Gomez should be a terror on the base paths with that speed, look for 40+ if he starts the whole season, maybe even 50+. Gomez isn’t going to give the team much at the plate, which could hurt the team some as with that speed the Twins ill most likely try to bat him lead off.
And now to what you guys want, Francisco Liriano. Yes, he is still on the major league roster but there is still another round of cuts coming. Liriano has dazzled this team much like he did in his meteoric ride to stardom. Only problem is he’s still not 100% after his Tommy John surgery. The Twins may consider sending him to the minor leagues as well to work his way back up to 100%. He could probably dominate most teams right now at the major league level, but sending him down for just a couple more starts could help strengthen the arm even more for the long haul. Looking at the Twins roster this could be likely as there is still more then 12 pitchers on the team. With Humber being sent to the minors, the team still needs a long reliever.