Francisco Liriano has struggled immensely this season, unfortunately, and the Minnesota Twins have finally decided to make a change with their former ace. There's no telling if it'll help, of course, but it certainly shouldn't hurt.
The Twins announced after Wednesday night's loss that Liriano is moving to the bullpen, being replaced by recent call-up P.J. Walters in the rotation. Walters 3-1 in Rochester with a 2.70 ERA, but the move is more important from the Liriano perspective.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told Fox Sports North on Tuesday night that Liriano took the news in stride.
"Frankie said, ‘Whatever you need me to do.' He made sure that he told (pitching coach Rick Anderson) and I that he understood, and that he's not upset about it, and he wants to help the baseball team any way he can," Gardenhire said. "We just gotta get him right. We've got to get him into some situations to try and get him some success."
The plan is to let Liriano get his confidence back up and, eventually, get him back into the rotation.
"He has the best arm on this team and we need to get him some confidence going, get some quality innings out of him, maybe help us win a few ballgames out of the bullpen right now. Eventually we're going to need him as a starter."
Hopefully this works out.
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