6:13pm: Among the clubs with at least some interest in Liriano are the Cubs, per Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (via Twitter), who would view the lefty as a possible reliever.
2:32pm: Sherman tweets that the Jays and Royals had discussed both Liriano and Marco Estrada, but Liriano now looks to be their sole focus. Morosi tweets that other clubs have had interest in Liriano, though there’s no readily apparent indication that talks with other teams have produced any kind of traction.
2:14pm: The Jays and Royals are “making progress” on a deal involving Liriano, reports MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter).
2:03pm: Francisco Liriano has struggled mightily this season, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the lefty is still drawing some interest. Sherman adds that the Blue Jays “may be close to dealing him.” To this point, the Royals have been the one club that has been definitively connected to the 33-year-old Liriano.
Playing out the final season of a three-year, $39MM contract, Liriano has seen his strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates each trend in the wrong direction, and his ERA has correspondingly soared to an unpalatable 5.99. Liriano’s 8.2 K/9, 4.9 BB/9 and 43.1 percent grounder rate would all rank as his worst marks since a disastrous 2012 campaign split between the Twins and White Sox. The lefty reinvented himself upon signing with the Pirates in 2013 and had three strong seasons there before being dealt to Toronto last season at the halfway point of the free-agent deal he signed to return to the Bucs.
Liriano was outstanding for Toronto down the stretch in 2016, averaging 9.5 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 and a 52.2 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 2.92 ERA. Obviously, he’s been wholly unable to replicate that production in 2017. He’s still owed the balance of his $13MM salary in 2017 — a sum of about $4.69MM.
Yesterday, when profiling the trade market for left-handed relievers, I speculated that it’s at least plausible that some clubs would view Liriano as a relief option. Nearly all of his struggles this season have come against right-handed hitters (.289/.394/.512), as he’s limited opposing lefties to a putrid .241/.267/.379 batting line. Liriano has a 16-to-1 K/BB ratio against lefties in 2017 and has struck out nearly 27 percent of the left-handed hitters he’s faced. His heater is still averaging 92.6 mph as a starter, and one has to imagine that said velocity would tick upward if Liriano were to move to a short-relief role.
Then again, some clubs may simply look at the past success Liriano has had as a starting pitcher and think that a change of scenery could get him back on track. Consistency has long been a problem for Liriano in the Majors, but he’s often flashed stretches of brilliance when his mechanics are at their best. Considering his struggles in 2017, it wouldn’t cost an acquiring club much of anything (in terms of prospect value) to get its hands on Liriano and hope that he can again deliver some value, be it in a rotation or relief capacity.
How does this help the royals exactly.
It helped the Jays last year when he turned things around once he came aboard a contender. Liriano is a much better pitcher on a winning team.
Cause that’s all they can afford
NOOOOOOO! It doesn’t help them at all.
Their need for DH is way more than rotation after they got Cahill
The Guys a Bum, the Phillies Jeremy Hellickson is a better Pitcher than this Chump !
He’s the type of pitcher that as soon as you put him on a good team in a pennant race, will be a different guy. I like this for the Royals. Worth it if they’re not giving up much of value.
He can’t throw without Russel Martin
Catch lightning in a bottle trade. Id prefer Estrada’s fly ball tendencies over Liriano’s control issues however. Neither is really that much worse than Hammel has been. Just as long as they don’t give up too much value.
Lirano can be a very good reliever. His slider is awesome.
Why in thee fuq would they do that????
They didn’t get enough stiffs from the Padres?
Please, if a deal is made, may it include Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire or 2 similar prospects going from the Jays to KC.
Why would Jays send prospects to Royals when the Jays are looking for prospects in return
Because those are the players the pirates sent to the jays in exchange for unloading his salary. Inexplicable.
It was totally explicable.
The Pirates gave up two guys they think will be busts to get rid of a $13 million pitcher who blows up and wrecks your bullpen every other start.
Makes one wonder why the Jays would do that, doesn’t it?
I posted the exact same thing here yesterday
I saw your post yesterday. I posted it as well before scrolling down to see yours. The Pirates had to send a couple of prospects to get the Jays to take all of Liriano’s salary. and to try to save their bullpen arms.
For the record, Liriano didn’t pitch better last year because he was on a contender…it was because he switched leagues and it took the AL a few months to adjust to him.
He throws pitches that look like strikes but end up off the plate. After years, the NL finally figured out to just take pitches until he’s forced to serve up meatballs. The AL caught on and here we are…
I do not recommend this move for the Royals.
Shhhhhh! We don’t want to give the Royals. any ideas not to trade for Frankie. I want the Jays to have to trade him in a deal that ends up being similar to what the Bucs had to do last year!
Why would they prefer Liriano over Estrada? Simply because they’d actually have to give something if somewhat value to land Marco?
Maybe the Royals are trying to get a couple of prospects along with Frankie just like the Jays did last year.
That’d make no sense for Toronto. Why not just let him pitch for the rest of the year and not lose any prospects?
This year’s trade options are garbage
The return for Liriano right now will probably be awful. No one’s taking the rest of his contract in full so why wouldn’t the Jays wait until August and hope he rebuilds some trade value? Then let him clear waivers and deal him.
And if nothing materializes they keep for the rest of the year. No big gain or loss either way IMO.
The 30 minutes immediately following the deadline is the best part for me because most of the time it’s moves made by teams pretty desperate to get a move done and can result in a few head scratchers (i.e. Josh Fields for Yordan Alvarez)
Bottom line- Shapiro should wait until a desperate team comes crawling to him with 15 minutes to go and see what he can squeeze out of it.
I think the jays can get a top 100 prospect out of this if they pay the remainder of Lirianos contract. That would be a fair deal….
Wishful thinking. The Royals got Cahill (a starter who’s having a way better season) and two major league relievers without giving up a top 100 prospect. Not gonna happen for Liriano in a million years.
I hope you’re being sarcastic
The market is set by the teams. What Liriano is worth is what a team will pay for him, not what I think is fair. Tosay that Liriano is going to be “worth” a top 100 prospect, you would have to know the marketplace. At the last minute teams can do crazy things, but a top 100, likely not going to happen.
Please take him away
Where does Liriano fit on the roster? He’s not an upgrade over anyone in the rotation and we already have 3 lefty relievers who aren’t going anywhere. This just doesn’t make sense to me.
Liriano is very good when right. In shorter bursts he’d be better. And if u put in a righty he has the killer changeup. You’d have reverse loogy and roogy in him and Uehara.
I’d like to see Schwarber go over along with CAndelario and de la Cruz for Liriano and Donaldson. Move KB to LF