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ARLINGTON, Texas -- The surprising Chicago White Sox have made a move to stay on top of the AL Central, acquiring left-hander Francisco Liriano from their division rival Minnesota Twins on Saturday night. http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/...minnesota-twins (VIDEO with Sutcliffe and BOONE) More From ESPN.com The Chicago White Sox are taking a good risk in acquiring Francisco Liriano from the Minnesota Twins, writes Dave Schoenfield. Blog • Foster: Sox bid Escobar farewell • White Sox Blog | ESPN Chicago The Twins will receive infielder Eduardo Escobar and lefty prospect Pedro Hernandez. The White Sox tweeted the news after the Twins beat the Cleveland Indians and Chicago won in Texas. "He just has to come here and be solid," said Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko. "He doesn't have to throw shutouts. He just has to give us a chance to win. That's all we're looking for." An All-Star in 2006, Liriano was expected to be one of the Twins' top starters before undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery later that same year. His career has since been plagued by inconsistency and injury. He pitched a no-hitter last May 3 against the White Sox but was 9-10 with a 5.09 ERA for 2011. This year Liriano struggled at the start and was demoted to the bullpen after his ERA rose to 9.45 in early May. He has brought that number down to 5.31 in 11 starts since his return to the rotation but still is 3-10 this season. He has walked 55 and struck out 109 -- including a 15 K game on July 13, a 6-3 loss. In his most recent start, the White Sox tagged Liriano for seven runs in 2 2/3 innings on Monday. "Hopefully the change of scenery will help," White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn said. "If he'll buy in to what we're doing over here, he can get back to what we know he's capable of doing." The 28-year-old Liriano is 50-52 with a 4.33 ERA in his career. Liriano, scheduled to be a free agent after this season, adds depth to a rotation headed by All-Star left-hander Chris Sale, right-handers Jake Peavy and Philip Humber and lefty Jose Quintana, who is 4-1 with a 2.58 ERA filling in for injured John Danks. Danks threw a bullpen session Friday, but there is no target date for his return. Sale, who leads the White Sox with 12 wins, has already thrown a career-high 124 innings. First-year manager Robin Ventura said he may look to get the left-hander some extra rest later in the season. Chicago has a 2½-game lead over the Detroit Tigers, the favorites to win the division. "I think (White Sox GM) Kenny (Williams) is just trying to do everything he possibly can to make us better pitching-wise," said Ventura. Twins general manager Terry Ryan said Liriano will stay in Minnesota until the White Sox arrive from Texas after Sunday's game. Both Escobar and Hernandez will go to Triple-A Rochester. Brian Duensing will start for Minnesota Sunday in place of Liriano. Escobar, 23, was hitting .207 (18 for 87) with four doubles and three RBIs in 36 games for the White Sox. "It's a tough one team-wise," Ventura said. "(Escobar) is kind of like a little brother or a son to most guys. He's taking it hard. It's just part of baseball. It happens to a lot of people. It will make us better though." Hernandez is also 23. He has split time at Double- and Triple-A this year, going 8-2 with a 2.94 ERA. He made his big league debut against Boston on July 18 and allowed eight runs in four innings.

http://comments.startribune.com/comments.p...br=1&ipp=10 You can get a sampling of all the comments made by Twins' fans here. Some are afraid of what Cooper might be able to accomplish with him, and how it will make Anderson and Gardy look incompetent. Liriano, 28, has been a prominent member of the trade rumor circuit for several years now. He's eligible for free agency after the season and is owed approximately $2.1MM for the remainder of the year. Injuries and inconsistency have dogged the left-hander throughout his career, and this year he's pitched to a 5.31 ERA in exactly 100 innings. The Twins originally acquired Liriano from the Giants as a minor leaguer as part of the A.J. Pierzynski-Joe Nathan swap back in 2003. He placed third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2006 and earned Cy Young Award votes in 2010, but he's pitched to a 5.18 ERA in 234 1/3 innings since. Liriano went from the rotation to the bullpen and back to the rotation this year, posting a 3.68 ERA in 11 starts since becoming a starter again. The White Sox are adding one of the game's premier strikeout pitchers to their staff with the trade. Even during his down years, Liriano has always missed bats and he owns a 9.8 K/9 this season. Walks are an issue however, especially of late. Over the last two years he's walked five hitters for every nine innings pitched. He figures to join Chris Sale and Jose Quintana to make three lefties in the ChiSox rotation.

It wasn't shocking that the Twins traded Francisco Liriano late Saturday night, just three days before the nonwaiver trade deadline. But it was surprising to see him land with the division rival Chicago White Sox. The White Sox acquired Liriano for middle infielder Eduardo Escobar and lefthanded pitcher Pedro Hernandez, who are both heading to Class AAA Rochester for the Twins. Liriano was scheduled to start Sunday's game against Cleveland for the Twins. Now, he will wait around the Twin Cities until the White Sox arrive at Target Field on Monday and likely will face the Twins in that three-game series. "I'm not thrilled with trading him within the division, obviously," General Manager Terry Ryan said. "You guys know where we are in the standings." Saturday night's 12-5 victory over Cleveland pulled the Twins out of last place for the first time since April 25. Liriano, 28, is eligible for free agency after the season. Ryan said Liriano expressed interest in staying with the Twins, but the team did not offer the lefthander a contract extension. "We didn't want to be left with nothing [if Liriano left as a free agent]," Ryan said. Since making the All-Star team as a rookie in 2006, Liriano has had Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery and gone through several ups and downs. He is 50-52 for his career and 3-10 with a 5.31 ERA this year. Those numbers don't begin to tell the story, of course. He twirled a no-hitter on May 3, 2011 -- coincidentally, against the White Sox. In his third-to-last start for the Twins, Liriano racked up 15 strikeouts against Oakland, but Monday he gave up seven runs in 22/3 innings -- once again, against the White Sox. "They know what they're getting, and I know what we're giving up," Ryan said. As for what the Twins are getting in return, neither Hernandez nor Escobar profiles as an elite prospect. Hernandez, 23, was traded to the White Sox from the Padres in December. A Venezuela native whose fastball generally sits in the 90-92-miles-per-hour range, Hernandez is 8-2 with a 2.94 ERA in 15 games combined this year between Class AA and Class AAA, including 14 starts. He made his major league debut for the White Sox on July 18 and gave up eight runs in four innings at Boston's Fenway Park. The Twins believe Hernandez can become a full-time starter in the big leagues, but Ryan didn't want to say if he's a No. 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 starter. "I'm not going to say that because I would have said that Scott Diamond's a potential number, and it wouldn't have been accurate," he said. "We'll let him make his own way. He has enough stuff. He's got a fastball, slider and a change. He throws a lot of strikes, which is good, but I'm not going to say he pitches to contact. He pitches to get outs." Baseball America had Escobar ranked as Chicago's 10th-best prospect after the 2011 season, but the White Sox farm system is notoriously thin. In 87 at-bats with the White Sox this season, Escobar hit .207 with no home runs. He went 2-for-5 with an RBI double in Chicago's 5-1 victory at Texas on Saturday night. He wasn't a regular for the White Sox, and the Twins view him as more than a utility infielder. "He's a switch hitter who can run," Ryan said. "He's got tremendous energy. He's strong enough. He can play shortstop. He can play second. He doesn't really profile at third offensively, but he can play there. Defensively you wouldn't have any problem with any of the three." startribune.com/sports

Yep, he's in the Top 5 in AL k's/9

1993-1994 and 2003 are right up there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 10:38 PM) We aren't going after Dempster. Merkin said it today...FWIW

Another idea would be bringing back Uribe...

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 10:30 PM) In the trade vein, any idea on the PTBL in the Meyers trade? Walker, Johnson, Semien or Kevan Smith in all likelihood. It's worth it, we desperately needed a veteran reliever with 3 pitches down in the pen and a calming presence with experience.

Kevin Slowey, Romero or Marcum is next. Dice-K...? LOL. Dempster will be traded to the White Sox if the Dodgers keep low-balling them and Braves don't restart talks. Theo doesn't care about the White Sox-Cubs stuff, only the return. So Dempster for Molina + another fairly advanced pitching prospect. Floyd to be marketed for all he's worth and possibly held onto.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 10:09 PM) and i wouldnt trade floyd. we still need him. if they want , trade him in the offseason, not now They can't trade him unless they agree to pick up the $9.5 million option first. This was the obvious move all along, instead of going after Greinke, Johnson, Shields, Garza, etc. It gives us lots of flexibility, someone who's familiar with the AL Central and all our opponents like his own team and the Royals, he can go back and forth from starting to the pen, he covers some of our weaknesses with Thornton, Santiago (getting RH hitters out better than LH) and Septimo's inexperience...then there's the whole Don Cooper factor. He is a free agent, but they have the right to offer him arbitration or a new contract/extension at any time, depending on how the new partnership goes. Great to see Terry Ryan sticking it to the Tigers. He traded them Young, so turnabout is fair play. I honestly don't think Williams is done. In the thread I started in TW, I suggested two pitchers, one of them being Liriano. From things we've been hearing tonight, the other pitcher might actually be Dempster for more of our minor league pitching, specifically, Molina. Although Castro, Rienzo, Snodgress, Johnson, Olacio, Petricka...they could also be involved. For some reason, I think that Floyd still might be moved IF IF IF KW can get back the piece he wants. If not, he's insurance for Danks So is Humber, who I was theorizing would be traded for another starter. We're in a great place now to go to the 6 man, not push Danks to come back....pick and choose how to use Sale, Quintana and Peavy down the stretch from series to series, matching up Liriano against LH dominant teams. Not since 2003, 2005-06, 2008 (before Quentin injury) and 2010 (26-5 run) have things looked so up in White Sox Nation. It's pretty amazing how absymal disasters (06-07 and 09-11) still led to recoveries in a relatively short time span....and kudos to everyone sticking it out with Dunn, Peavy and Rios, all who have been huge for us in 2012. I'll even give some credit to Ozzie, even though he was actually trying to stick it to KW by making Dunn humiliated by playing against LHP last year. In the meantime, we haven't traded Viciedo, Quintana, Reed, Jones, Santiago, etc. Pretty amazing. Although I think the PTBNL in the Astros deal might end up being someone everyone here wanted to keep like Walker, Johnson, Kevan Smith....maybe Semien.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 03:03 PM) I guess no matter what the prices, Sox fans will pack the Cell if they believe the team is in the race. It looks like right now and as of the last home series, they do believe there's a realistic shot at winning the division. This year is perfect proof of why the Sox can never completely rebuild if it means losing 90 or more games for a few seasons. Sox fans want to win or they ain't coming. They now are coming again. Worst case scenario, they go into Minnesota with a 1/2 game lead. Hopefully Humber can relax and just pitch his game tonight, knowing the Tigers have already lost. Whatever he does, he can't get behind in the count or get them out with fastballs. Not to mention that with Greinke, Trout, Trumbo, Pujols and Weaver, the Angels might have the most superstar-laden team outside NY and BOS. Plus we have our own Boston star in YOUK, that's helped to build interest as well.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 05:49 PM) Blue Jays lineup is just terrible right now with all these injuries. No Bautista, Arencibia, Lind or Escobar See, now you did it to the Tigers. Alvarez just blew DET away today. 1-4 on their roadtrip, very similar to what happened with the Sox. Offense, similarly, has gone dormant and corpsy. Still have to play in Boston next, where they've struggled recently. Escobar had a homer, Rasmus 3 RBI's (HR) and hitting machine Encarnacion had yet another. Tigers "flat" and "tired" and taking lazy swings. Maybe passing the White Sox and taking first last weekend caused them to relax.

The PTBNL will likely be one of their draft picks from 2011 as draft picks cannot be traded until one year from the date they are signed. Myers contract pays him a bonus of $500K if and when he is dealt. Chicago is only responsible for $1 mil of Myers salary this year and will receive money from the Astros for either his vesting option or buyout, whichever one occurs, this offseason. I won’t pretend to know much about either of these players we received from the White Sox as their system is terrible and I doubt either one of these guys cracks our top 20, however, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus did have this to say about Walters. All in all, I’m fine with this trade. Trading Myers was a must as paying him $10 mil next year once the option vested (45 games finished and doesn’t end up on the DL. He has already finished 29 games.) made no sense for a team rebuilding. He will likely be a setup man for Chicago basically assuring his option doesn’t vest. Climbingtalshill.com It's possible that it could be Walker or Erik Johnson, Kevan Smith, Semien...hopefully not the first two.

It's kind of like the White Sox with Konerko. There's just no way the Twins can trade Mauer, he has too much value to their franchise...it's a unique situation, like Ichiro for so long in Seattle. And knowing the Nationals, they would expect the Twins to eat part of his deal, and Minnesota just doesn't do that kind of move. Not with their attendance still being what it is. The Twins have a good line-up offensively, they actually need to be looking to improve their starting pitching, not subtracting Mauer.

Depending on what kind of trade MIA considers, MLB and the Commissioner's office are going to come down hard on Loria. Trading Josh Johnson is going to be a lot less defensible if they want to sell any season tickets next season. With his injury history and salary, you just don't see teams coming up with the type of package that equals his talent level (once again, when healthy). They've shown no indication of trying to trade Reyes or Buehrle, though. •Clubs identify the Dodgers, Orioles and Blue Jays as other aggressively suitors for Johnson while the White Sox, Red Sox, Braves, and Royals have checked in. If the Royals are serious about competing in 2013, Johnson would be the kind of pitcher they should be looking at...but it's going to cost Wil Myers + Odorizzi, something like that...one of their other young pitching prospects.

Lannan has to be considered a possibility. Pitchers whose teams don't want to carry their salary for the remainder of the season or have an option for next year, etc. Let's see how Humber does tonight...hard to be optimistic, but he showed up against the Red Sox. Totally erratic, though, from game to game. Dice-K is another of those guys, but doesn't seem likely the Red Sox are going to want to help us again after YOUK has performed so well for us. Then again, not even John Henry is beyond wanting some salary relief with so many bad contracts on that team. He's supposed to come back soon. Fits the profile of a guy who's going to be passed through waivers in early August.

•The Braves, Dodgers, Indians, and Rangers are among the clubs with the most interest in Shields...

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 10:58 AM) I like Walker better because he has shown dramatic improvement this year which gives me hope that he will be able to improve his contact rate in the future. I can see him being a guy who eventually gets you double figures in doubles, triples, and homers, and 40 SB a year. Gee, sounds pretty much like Juan Pierre. Not so sure about the double figures in homers. DeAza has more pop, and Mitchell.

I love the fact we're saying XYZ player can't play a corner when we've had guys like Pods and Pierre on the corners. Mitchell will probably be a LFer in the big leagues if he makes it...although it's possible he sticks in CF. With the Sox, they probably have him lined up behind DeAza rather than Viciedo, but he can play either. If anyone projects as a "pure" power hitter in our minor league system, among the outfielders, it's Thompson and Hawkins head and shoulders over everyone else. That's exactly what you need at USCF, not punch and judy hitters.

KW has to be scouring the rosters for ground out/sinker guys who have the ability to pick up 6-7 K's per game. A pretty short list.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 09:38 AM) Viciedo? OF corners is the one place they're set. Johnson will be pitching for Texas within days anyway. It seems they're growing frustrated with Logan Morrison, too.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 09:19 AM) So replace Santiago with Quintana. Bell has had a nightmare season but just a year ago he was damn good. Sox could have a lot of money coming off the books. And Johnson comes with his own risks as well. Obviously Sanchez is for future considerations. Still think it would take Viciedo to get Johnson.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 07:51 AM) Lol Axelrod had a great start against the Red Sox that Monday game, but there's a 50/50 chance that's his last start in a White Sox uniform. One would think he'll fall back into the 11-15 range of prospects in the offseason. Maybe 9 or 10. And that's a good thing that somewhat marginal prospects are getting passed and pushed out of the Top 10.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 12:13 AM) The rich get richer, but I'm happy if they were trying to rob the Sox. I don't like the idea of giving up a lot for a guy we have ZERO chance of signing. It would have been ridiculous. If we want to trade some of the guys we'd have had to trade for Greinke, do so in the offseason or do so now for somebody we can get to stick around. In the offseason, Zack will either be a FA or extended by the Angels. Either way, the Sox won't be a part of the discussion.

We'll be facing him next Friday or Saturday. Should be interesting, and great crowds next weekend. We miss Liriano by one game as he POSSIBLY starts this Sunday against CLE. REMATCH WEEK MON: De Vries vs. Quintana TUE: Blackburn vs. Peavy WED: Diamond vs TBA We're going to have to win those first two because Diamond has been super tough recently.