Francisco Liriano - 5th starter or...gulp...closer?

For the most part, the Twins have the 4-man-rotation all set up with Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Carl Pavano, and Kevin Slowey. So...if Francisco Liriano wants to be a big part of this team, he will have to fight for the 5th starter spot. Or he could end up being the closer on a team hoping to win a World Series. Yikes.

On the surface, the possibility seems absurd, but when you look at the other options on this team -- Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, and Jesse Crain -- adding Liriano to the mix doesn't seem that far off base. He had/has great stuff. The only big worry. Well...the only two big worries would be his arm strength, can he pitch on back-to-back days if he needs to do so? And...um...his mental makeup. Can he handle being a tight spots with the bases loaded and one-out in the 8th inning of a big game?

I guess we won't know until he gets to that point. But right now, we aren't optimistic.