For all major league starters named Francisco Liriano and not named Francisco Liriano, he only ranked 37th overall in ERA, behind Anibal Sanchez, Chad Billingsley and The Wandwagon. Liriano only won 14 games, which ranked 25th overall, tied with Jon Garland, Lackey and Brett Myers, amongst other yawnstipating names. So on first glance, you may not realize how good he was last year. He had the fifth best K/9 for major league starters last year. Above him, Lincecum, Lester, Yovani and Filthy Sanchez. Of those five, guess which one had the best xFIP at 3.06. Go ahead, I’ll wait. *taps finger, scratches head, flosses* It was Liriano! C’mon, that was a gimme. Okay, of those five, who had the best BB/9? *takes out garbage, wipes dandruff off shoulder, uses dandruff to add ambiance to fake Christmas tree* It was Liriano again! Now for the next fifteen minutes, I’m also going to throw in that Francisco Liriano was drafted on average around 200th overall. That alone makes him a keeper for 2011 fantasy baseball but let’s see what we can expect from him in 2011 fantasy baseball?
People may still be scared off of Liriano from his bout with TJ surgery, but the gender reassignment–wait, that’s Tijuana surgery. I mean, the Tommy John surgery was a success. He looked like dog’s vomit in 2009 because he wasn’t full back yet. A common issue with TJ recipients is their control is all over the place (literally!). That happened to Liriano. In 2009, he posted his worst BB/9 at 4.28. As briefly mentioned by Mr. Intro Paragraph, his BB/9 was excellent last year at 2.72. Even if he loses a bit of that control and goes closer to his career mark of 3.18, it’s still solid. The Ks are not going anywhere. The home park, Hubert H. Homerfree Retrodome, plays just as it sounds. I’ll give him a line of 16-10/3.40/1.22/200, which is conservative. Finally, it feels like Liriano has been in the game longer than Dr. Dre but he’ll still only be 27-years-old for the 2011 season. In 200 innings, you’re looking at a guy that could be in the running for the Cy Young. Assuming Murray Chass doesn’t register under multiple names and vote for Jim Bunning.
