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Phillies To Sign Francisco Liriano

By Jeff Todd | January 22, 2020 at 10:59am CDT

The Phillies have reached agreement on a deal with veteran lefty Francisco Liriano, per Robert Murray (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of MLB Network had tweeted that a deal was close.

It’s said to be a minor-league pact and will obviously include an invitation to MLB camp. Liriano can earn $1.5MM in the majors and double that through incentives.

The 36-year-old Liriano spent last year working exclusively as a reliever, but had previously functioned primarily as a starter. Odds are he’ll be looked at primarily as a pen candidate by the Philadelphia organization, but his wealth of experience in multi-inning situations surely doesn’t hurt.

While he pitched to a 3.47 ERA over seventy frames in 2019, it’s not hard to see why Liriano was forced to settle for a minor-league arrangement. He posted 8.1 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 along with a 50.3% groundball rate. Fielding-independent pitching metrics weren’t overly enthused (4.52 FIP; 4.92 xFIP; 4.76 SIERA) and Statcast indicates that Liriano gave up loads of hard contact.

Then again, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Liriano in the picture with the Phils. He was able to generate a 13.5% swinging-strike rate last year, his loftiest mark since 2015. And lefties that can handle right-handed batters are perhaps more in demand than ever before, given the onset of the 3-batter minimum rule.

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Philadelphia Phillies Transactions Francisco Liriano

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View Comments (37)
Post a Comment

37 Comments

  1. Francys01

    5 years ago

    Not a bad signing.

    3
    Reply
  2. mlb.fanatic

    5 years ago

    I thought it said Francisco Lindor lmao

    5
    Reply
    • baseballpun

      5 years ago

      I was just about to write –

      The looked-at-too-quickly-and-didn’t-really-read-it version of this headline is “Phillies acquire Francisco Lindor”

      1
      Reply
      • dugdog83

        5 years ago

        They are almost identical ball players.

        3
        Reply
        • Robertowannabe

          5 years ago

          Twins you might say…..wait did I hear right that the Twins acquired Lindor?

          Reply
    • Braveslifer

      5 years ago

      Same…

      1
      Reply
    • Braveslifer

      5 years ago

      Same…

      Reply
    • 802Ghost

      5 years ago

      Same here.

      1
      Reply
    • HartnellDown

      5 years ago

      Same. I almost freaked out.

      1
      Reply
  3. Far Beyond Driven

    5 years ago

    Pretty solid lefty option out of the bullpen

    3
    Reply
  4. phillyballers

    5 years ago

    I guess Klentak is in 100% low risk mode. Wish he was a little more like RAJ, his only good quality was being able to sell the turds in the farm system for legitimate studs. Klentak has only traded the actually good prospects. We have a hoard of blah ones, mostly blocked positions.

    Reply
    • herecomethephillies2018

      5 years ago

      Other than Sixto, what studs did he trade? I don’t think a single Phillies fan would undo the Sixto trade either.

      1
      Reply
      • phillyballers

        5 years ago

        Was mainly referring to Alfaro. Sixto and JP are still too early to tell.

        Reply
    • htbnm57

      5 years ago

      Middleton writes the checks and he’s not going over the Luxury Tax Threashold this year.

      Reply
  5. datrain021

    5 years ago

    Surprised he couldn’t land a guaranteed deal

    2
    Reply
  6. mlb1225

    5 years ago

    Hey, he gave the Pirates a 3.47 ERA, a 123 ERA+, and 70 innings on a minor league deal last season. You could do a lot worse than that.

    7
    Reply
  7. agentx

    5 years ago

    Also surprised, given Liriano’s track record and decent lefty-righty splits that may benefit he and the Phillies even more if/when the three-batter rule is implemented.

    Reply
  8. DarkSide830

    5 years ago

    good deal. he looked good out of the pen last year.

    3
    Reply
  9. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    5 years ago

    The Pirates aren’t going to let anything get in between them and that first overall 2021 pick.

    1
    Reply
  10. wheel

    5 years ago

    If he can get his walk ratio down and his ground ball rate up a little, he will be a nice pickup for the Phillies bullpen. Lefties are always a premium and the price is right.

    1
    Reply
  11. htbnm57

    5 years ago

    If one of the three signings the Phillies made the last few days works out it will be a positive result.

    4
    Reply
  12. Phiilies2020

    5 years ago

    I’m not against this move, but any role he would take on in the Phillies bullpen may be better utilized by Ranger Suarez. Can never have enough pitching depth however

    Reply
  13. gwaid44

    5 years ago

    Liriano, Norris, Storen, id they hit on 1 then its a huge win. If they hit on 2, it’s brilliant, and if they hit on all 3- well then they wlll have a bullpen! Lol. I lile the Liriano (LH and recent success most), Storen, youth and highsr end stuff 2nd, ans Norris 3rd.

    2
    Reply
    • DakotaJoe

      5 years ago

      Wishful thinking but Storen and Norris are longshots and Liriano is another year older. I like the signing but the other two are more likely going to be taking innings away from more legit contenders come spring training.

      Reply
  14. gwaid44

    5 years ago

    I think they are going to give Suarez, Liriano, Velasquez, Pivetta and even Irvin a shot at 5th starter. I think they are aware that they could use a LH starter to balance the rotation, but ultimately VV will outpitch all of them. Which is a shame because I think he can be a great CL or 2 INN late reliever (Hader type weapon). . I don’t like living on the edge with Neris closing, and am.not counting on Dominguez’s health at this point.

    1
    Reply
    • mlb1225

      5 years ago

      Liriano’s days as a starter are over.

      2
      Reply
      • Robertowannabe

        5 years ago

        If a team needs to hand Frankie the ball as a starter, their season would be considered over at that moment..

        Reply
        • DonB34

          5 years ago

          In that case, he should have started Opening Day for the Pirates last year.

          Reply
    • Phiilies2020

      5 years ago

      Vince Velasquez had the worst OPS against for the third time through an opposing teams lineup then any other pitcher in baseball last year. He works high counts and tries to blow batters away. He even has that closer’s mentality. Why the Phillies havent converted him to Closer yet is beyond me.

      The 5th starter will be Nick Pivetta or Enyel De los Santos to start the season, I think. I just cant imagine with the data they have on VV that they will let him start again. They should work him as the Closer from day one in the spring and run with it. The loser of the 5th starter battle will probably stay on the roster as a swingman/long reliever.

      1
      Reply
  15. Joegio

    5 years ago

    Forwhothejoshturdtolls you should just get a life. Oh wait you have one an anti pirate troll. You must be one sad individual

    Reply
    • Robertowannabe

      5 years ago

      So says the guy that has to call other people on boards names….Talking about sad individuals…..smh….

      Reply
    • 66TheNumberOfTheBest

      5 years ago

      No, I’m a Penguins fan. Life is good.

      You seem happy.

      Reply
  16. Troy mcclure

    5 years ago

    Was not a fan of his when he was on the jays meh guess it’s worth a shot

    Reply
  17. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    5 years ago

    There is no option to reply to any comments that reply to my previous comment.

    Is that a glitch?

    Or a means of preventing snippy back and forth like pointing out to Marner#16 that only AARP members were alive to see the last Maple Leafs Cup?

    Reply
  18. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    5 years ago

    The last time the Maple Leafs won a Cup, man had yet to walk on the moon.

    Will they win another before man sets foot on Mars?

    Not with that defense.

    Reply
  19. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    5 years ago

    Did you know that both MLK and RFK were still alive the last time the Leafs won a Cup?

    Reply
  20. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    5 years ago

    I don’t doubt your ignorance of history.

    Did you know that the last time the Leafs won a Cup, the Beatles were still a band?

    Reply

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