RETURN OF 'THE NASTY'

by Jack Cobra, Cobra Brigade

Nearly two years ago a young pitcher burst onto the scene and nearly carried my fantasy baseball team to the championship before.....he was injured. When he was healthy though, he was absolutely filthy, hence the name I gave him 'The Nasty'. Now, after sitting out the entire 2007 Season it looks like Minnesota Twins phenom Francisco Liriano is ready to come back at full strength....fantasy owners every begin to drool:

Francisco Liriano's readiness that looms as one of the most important questions of the new season. The Minnesota Twins insist they are not depending upon Liriano to make a major contribution this summer according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press."That's major (elbow) surgery, so you have to have a wait-and-see attitude," manager Ron Gardenhire said. The left-hander himself can't think of a reason why 2008 would be any different than his wildly successful first three months of 2006. His velocity? "It's back. The past two weeks, I was (at) 95, 94 (mph)," the 24-year-old Dominican said. His endurance? "I'm throwing bullpens the same length as before surgery. I'm in shape."

For Twins fans that haven't been having such a great week, this is wonderful news. For fans of other American League teams, this is bad news....

To refresh your memory on Liriano, while he isn't Johan Santana, he is an absolute monster on the mound as he blows away hitters with his nasty repetoire of pitches. Liriano has a career WHIP of 1.02 and a BAA of .208 to go along with his career ERA of 2.74, so you can see that the guy is good.

Will he be able to come back and be the pitcher he once was? Well, recent history tells us that pitchers coming off major elbow surgery generally need two seasons to get back to where they were. Maybe since Liriano sat out the entire 2007 his rehab was propelled to new levels and he'll come back 100% this season. Nevertheless, keep an eye on Liriano in Spring Training to see if 'The Nasty' is back.