I told wite to not sleep on that guy and why, but he replied back some non sense I don't even remember. Sure he has to do that when the season comes, but from what I heard and from what a scout told Andrew Marchanes(sp?) he "looks like the Liriano of old." Usually it takes 2 years to really come back from TJ. Well... this will be year 2 for Francisco and I see him being a nice dark horse for you guys this season.

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?si...escwin_gigwin_1

 

Not that it's the point, but that's not exactly a great lineup he faced (3, maybe 4 major leaguers in the bunch), and he wasn't pitching against patient hitters (Nelson Cruz was probably the most patient hitter he faced). His stuff has always been good, even after surgery, but his control and command has not. He got absolutely murdered by right handed pitching last year, and I haven't seen anything that really suggests that will. Maybe the added confidence will be good for him, but we'll have to see him in Spring Training against MLB players who are much more apt to take a pitch as opposed to swinging at the first one that crosses the plate.

Two of the best Sox blogs in the business summarize why there really is no excuse or KW to be deferring to Oz on personnel decisions. http://soxmachine.com/soxmachine/2010/01/2...llen/#more-1269 and http://www.southsidesox.com/2010/1/25/1269...ot-a-fan-of-the

 

These are must reads IMO.

 

Awesome stuff, right on line with my thinking.