Quote Originally Posted by thrylos98 View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Winston Smith View Post
If he is one of the best 5 starters and it's hard to believe he wouldn't be he should start with the Twins. .
Plenty of examples that the Twins did not start the best 5 out of Spring Training in recent seasons... 2006: Liriano had to start the season in the pen. 2007: (the year of Sir Sidney and Ramon Ortiz) Garza had to start the season in Rochester to pay his dues; 2008 (the year of Livan). Liriano has to stay in AAA forever so the super 2 clock will not click; 2011: Slowey was much better than Blackburn in ST, Blackburn gets to be in the rotation (because of the scholarship) . 2012: Marquis has an atrocious ST, he is not ready and he still wins a spot. So it is the norm vs the exception in Twinsland....
Liriano did start 2008 with the Twins despite a poor ST. He pitched three games (Twins lost all three) when he "accepted reassignment" to Rochester. Perhaps if he had actually started in Rochester, a "replacement-quality" SP could have salvaged one of those three games and the Twins win the Division?