Back in February, I framed the Twins' rotation as a series of five coin flips. Looking back, it's funny how the worst case scenario seems to have struck in every single situation: Carl Pavano … Heads, he remembers how to miss a few extra bats and returns to the form he showed while winning 17 games two years ago. Tails, his performance continues to descend as he ages into his late 30s. Francisco Liriano … Heads, he regains his fastball command and helps power the top of ...
It just happens to take two pitchers to make that one Ace. Between Carl Pavano's mindset, and Francisco Liriano's stuff, we actually do have that one Ace. Pavano demonstrated on Monday that he has that bulldog mentality that an ace needs, to decide that he is going to go out, compete, and get some outs for his team. Liriano demonstrated on Tuesday that he is one of the most mentally fragile picthers in the league, that is yet to learn how to handle adversity. If we could somehow combine them ...
When the Twins acquired Carl Pavano in August of 2009, his fastball was averaging almost 91 miles per hour and he was striking out 16 percent of the batters he faced. In two seasons since, his velocity has dropped by two miles per hour and his K-rate has descended steadily, to 13 percent in 2010 and 11 percent in 2011. Among qualifying major-league starters, only Brad Penny had a lower K/9 mark last year than Pavano's 4.1. A lack of whiffs isn't necessarily a death knell, especially ...
Recent Comments