Posted by Matt Snyder It's no secret the Yankees covet starting pitching. They only have three legitimate major league starters at this point, and it's not like A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes are without question marks. It's going to be one of the major ongoing storylines of the season, in fact.
A potentially significant deal that might be in the works -- obviously the very preliminary stages -- is a swap with the Twins for Francisco Liriano.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports the Yanks are "keeping a close eye" on Liriano and, likewise, the Twins are "keeping tabs on [Yankees] prospects."
The only concern with Liriano is health, because there is no questioning his talent. In 2006, the phenom reared his head, going 12-3 with a sick 2.16 ERA and 1.00 WHIP. He struck out 144 hitters in 121 innings. But that season came to a close with him needing Tommy John surgery and he never returned to form until last season.
In 2010, we saw glimpses of the old Liriano. He was 14-10 with a 3.62 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. He struck out 201 hitters in a career-high 191 2/3 innings. His stuff was good enough to only allow 0.4 home runs per nine innings (an AL-best). He still suffered the occasional meltdown, but balanced it out with some real beauties. Plus, he's still only 27. There's plenty of tread left on those tires.
He has had shoulder soreness some early in spring training, but that kind of thing is normal for pitchers in February.
If the Yankees did deal prospects for Liriano, he'd knock Burnett down to the four spot in the rotation and form a rather formidable trio at the top with Hughes and CC Sabathia.
