POOR LIRIANO - POOR TWINS - POOR ME

This article is mainly from the Twins site - with my own added commentary, of course.

It's such a bummer that the Twins' hopes and my personal hopes of having Francisco Liriano in the rotation next season were erased when the club announced that Liriano will undergo elbow surgery on Monday in Los Angeles. The surgery means that Liriano will likely be sidelined for the entire 2007 season.

The decision to perform surgery comes after months of uncertainty for Liriano, as he has continued to be plagued by soreness in his left elbow. Liriano first began having trouble will his left elbow in early August and "The therapy and the rehab didn't seem to be working," Terry Ryan, Twins GM said. "Francisco continued to feel some soreness in there, so we're going to proceed with the surgery, and obviously he's going to miss next year."

Liriano headed to the team's year-round training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., after the club was eliminated from the playoffs, and he remained there until Oct. 21, when he experienced pain again during his first light-throwing session. Frustrated with the continuing pain, Liriano left the facility. He spent some time in the Dominican Republic to celebrate his birthday before a decision was finally made to have the lefty visit the Dr. for one last opinion.

Losing Liriano, who was 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA last season, is just another hit to a Twins rotation that already appears to have depth issues. With Brad Radke expected to formally announce his retirement in the coming weeks, the Twins were already planning to add starting pitching this offseason. The only guaranteed spot in the rotation appears to belong to ace Johan Santana.
But while the news of Liriano's surgery certainly wasn't something positive for the club, Ryan said that it doesn't really change the Twins' approach this offseason. "There wasn't any guarantee that he was going to be able to perform," Ryan said of Liriano. "Today's decision just means we have finality here. We need to move forward. We know we're not going to have him and we need to find some other people, whether it's through outside resources or from within the organization..."

So sad to see Liriano out - I hope the Minnesota Twins can find the talent they need to keep the ball club super competitive in 2007 - I have to believe!