The Phillies have reached agreement on a deal with veteran lefty Francisco Liriano, per Robert Murray (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of MLB Network had tweeted that a deal was close.
It’s said to be a minor-league pact and will obviously include an invitation to MLB camp. Liriano can earn $1.5MM in the majors and double that through incentives.
The 36-year-old Liriano spent last year working exclusively as a reliever, but had previously functioned primarily as a starter. Odds are he’ll be looked at primarily as a pen candidate by the Philadelphia organization, but his wealth of experience in multi-inning situations surely doesn’t hurt.
While he pitched to a 3.47 ERA over seventy frames in 2019, it’s not hard to see why Liriano was forced to settle for a minor-league arrangement. He posted 8.1 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 along with a 50.3% groundball rate. Fielding-independent pitching metrics weren’t overly enthused (4.52 FIP; 4.92 xFIP; 4.76 SIERA) and Statcast indicates that Liriano gave up loads of hard contact.
Then again, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Liriano in the picture with the Phils. He was able to generate a 13.5% swinging-strike rate last year, his loftiest mark since 2015. And lefties that can handle right-handed batters are perhaps more in demand than ever before, given the onset of the 3-batter minimum rule.
Not a bad signing.
I thought it said Francisco Lindor lmao
I was just about to write –
The looked-at-too-quickly-and-didn’t-really-read-it version of this headline is “Phillies acquire Francisco Lindor”
They are almost identical ball players.
Twins you might say…..wait did I hear right that the Twins acquired Lindor?
Same…
Same…
Same here.
Same. I almost freaked out.
Pretty solid lefty option out of the bullpen
I guess Klentak is in 100% low risk mode. Wish he was a little more like RAJ, his only good quality was being able to sell the turds in the farm system for legitimate studs. Klentak has only traded the actually good prospects. We have a hoard of blah ones, mostly blocked positions.
Other than Sixto, what studs did he trade? I don’t think a single Phillies fan would undo the Sixto trade either.
Was mainly referring to Alfaro. Sixto and JP are still too early to tell.
Middleton writes the checks and he’s not going over the Luxury Tax Threashold this year.
Surprised he couldn’t land a guaranteed deal
Hey, he gave the Pirates a 3.47 ERA, a 123 ERA+, and 70 innings on a minor league deal last season. You could do a lot worse than that.
Also surprised, given Liriano’s track record and decent lefty-righty splits that may benefit he and the Phillies even more if/when the three-batter rule is implemented.
good deal. he looked good out of the pen last year.
The Pirates aren’t going to let anything get in between them and that first overall 2021 pick.
If he can get his walk ratio down and his ground ball rate up a little, he will be a nice pickup for the Phillies bullpen. Lefties are always a premium and the price is right.
If one of the three signings the Phillies made the last few days works out it will be a positive result.
I’m not against this move, but any role he would take on in the Phillies bullpen may be better utilized by Ranger Suarez. Can never have enough pitching depth however
Liriano, Norris, Storen, id they hit on 1 then its a huge win. If they hit on 2, it’s brilliant, and if they hit on all 3- well then they wlll have a bullpen! Lol. I lile the Liriano (LH and recent success most), Storen, youth and highsr end stuff 2nd, ans Norris 3rd.
Wishful thinking but Storen and Norris are longshots and Liriano is another year older. I like the signing but the other two are more likely going to be taking innings away from more legit contenders come spring training.
I think they are going to give Suarez, Liriano, Velasquez, Pivetta and even Irvin a shot at 5th starter. I think they are aware that they could use a LH starter to balance the rotation, but ultimately VV will outpitch all of them. Which is a shame because I think he can be a great CL or 2 INN late reliever (Hader type weapon). . I don’t like living on the edge with Neris closing, and am.not counting on Dominguez’s health at this point.
Liriano’s days as a starter are over.
If a team needs to hand Frankie the ball as a starter, their season would be considered over at that moment..
In that case, he should have started Opening Day for the Pirates last year.
Vince Velasquez had the worst OPS against for the third time through an opposing teams lineup then any other pitcher in baseball last year. He works high counts and tries to blow batters away. He even has that closer’s mentality. Why the Phillies havent converted him to Closer yet is beyond me.
The 5th starter will be Nick Pivetta or Enyel De los Santos to start the season, I think. I just cant imagine with the data they have on VV that they will let him start again. They should work him as the Closer from day one in the spring and run with it. The loser of the 5th starter battle will probably stay on the roster as a swingman/long reliever.
Forwhothejoshturdtolls you should just get a life. Oh wait you have one an anti pirate troll. You must be one sad individual
So says the guy that has to call other people on boards names….Talking about sad individuals…..smh….
No, I’m a Penguins fan. Life is good.
You seem happy.
Was not a fan of his when he was on the jays meh guess it’s worth a shot
There is no option to reply to any comments that reply to my previous comment.
Is that a glitch?
Or a means of preventing snippy back and forth like pointing out to Marner#16 that only AARP members were alive to see the last Maple Leafs Cup?
The last time the Maple Leafs won a Cup, man had yet to walk on the moon.
Will they win another before man sets foot on Mars?
Not with that defense.
Did you know that both MLK and RFK were still alive the last time the Leafs won a Cup?
I don’t doubt your ignorance of history.
Did you know that the last time the Leafs won a Cup, the Beatles were still a band?