The Twins have agreed to terms with pitcher Francisco Liriano on a one-year, $4.3MM deal, avoiding arbitration, according to a team press release. The left-hander is represented by Legacy Sports.
This one-year deal marks a signficant raise for Liriano, who skirted arbitration with the Twins last year for $1.6MM. The two sides met exactly in the middle this time as the pitcher asked for $5MM and the club countered with an offer of $3.6MM. This offseason was Liriano's second go-round as an arb-eligible player.
Liriano, 27, turned in a 3.62 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 31 starts last season. According to MLBTR's Arb Tracker, the Twins have just one more unsettled case to tackle in outfielder Delmon Young.
What a steal!
Agreed. A 4+ WAR pitcher for $4.3M and just locked into 1 year? Steal.
Maybe i’m missing something, but how does a guy like Liriano get less than a guy like Napoli through Arbitration? I’m going to guess it has something to do with playing time and age? A good bargain for the Twins either way.
They have almost identical service time…
It is odd, I agree…
I’m sure someone will post some sarcastic comment answering your question though.
I guess Liriano is only one year removed from being awful… but still…
He’s been injured more than Napoli, and he wasn’t all to great in 09.
I get that, but Napoli has never even been a full-time player up until last year, in which he had perhaps the worst year of his career. I’m thinking it has to do with Napoli being a catcher, and the type of value he brings to that position compared to Liriano at the starting pitcher position. I’m not putting down Napoli in any way either, I like him as a player and wanted to see him in Toronto this year, but Liriano is much more valuable to me.
That is odd, but a repeat season of what he did last year for the next couple seasons will deffinately get him a huge payday when he hits free agency.
It’s because of how miserable and inconsistent Liriano was in ’09. Some folks still consider him a question mark.
I’ll take him any day. He’s still maturing as a pitcher and is finally looking like he fully trusts his arm again since his surgery. He’s letting the ball go very nicely, well, at least was last year. Sure, there was some bad games but as I said, he’s still maturing.
By last year I hope you meant 2009, as in 2010 he was one of the best pitchers in the game.
I think Napoli was a Super 2, which means he’s been to arbitration 3 times while this was only Liriano’s 2nd time.
“The two sides met exactly in the middle this time as the pitcher asked for $5MM and the club countered with an offer of $3.6MM.”
And he signed 4.3 mil? Talk about meeting halfway.
this move just won the Twins a world series in 2011
The little league world series? Or was that sarcasm? As much as I would love to see the Twins take home a championship again, I’d worry more about getting out of the first round of the playoffs before saying that signing a player they already had control of will win them the world series
He’s a White Sox fan.
…and a bitter one at that. Twins keep messing up his summers!
Wow. $4.3 million? That is absolutely amazing. Hell of a deal.
That’s a little over half of what Pavano makes. Hopefully they both can produce for the Twins like they did last year, but I have my doubts.
I’d like to know how extension talks between the Twins and Liriano are going. That’s assuming there have been talks.
I will agree that Liriano at 4.3 million is a steal, but in my opinion the Twins missed out on locking him in for a year or two beyond arbitration. Had they signed him to a deal similar to Zack Greinke (’09: 4 yrs/38 mil) or Josh Johnson (’10: 4 yrs/39 mil) they would have saved money in the long run (assuming Frankie stays healthy and pitches like 2010).
They can still sign him to an extension, this just makes sure that it doesn’t go to the arbitration hearing.
I want him signed long term, but I can understand why they could be hesitant. He has to prove that 2010 wasn’t a fluke.