Liriano Makes White Sox Debut Tonight

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 31, 2012 5:20PM

Well, we've got to give Kenny Williams a ton of credit. In spite of the poor attendance at the Cell, the White Sox GM still managed to address the club's three biggest weaknesses as the team continues to pursue the postseason. Following the addition of third baseman Kevin Youkilis and closer Brett Myers, Williams added starting pitcher Francisco Liriano over the weekend.

The 28-year-old lefty joins the Sox from their AL Central rivals, the Minnesota Twins. In return, the Sox sent infielder Eduardo Escobar and pitcher Pedro Hernandez to Minnesota.

Liriano takes the mound as a member of the White Sox tonight and he'll face a familiar opponent—his old teammates. The White Sox and Twins play the second of three games at Target Field, following the Twins' 7-6 win Monday.

Liriano is 3-10 with a 5.31 ERA on the season but has pitched better of late with a 3.68 ERA and 79 strikeouts over his last 11 starts. While the Sox hope their new southpaw can pitch as he has recently, they're primarily looking for somebody to eat innings and give some of their starting pitchers more rest. John Danks doesn't appear to be coming off the disabled list anytime soon, and might require season ending surgery. Philip Humber recently returned from the DL and Gavin Floyd battled soreness. Chris Sale and Jose Quintana have each surpassed their season highs in innings pitched and the fatigue has shown of late in both.

Adding Liriano allows manager Robin Ventura the ability to give Chris Sale some additional time off between starts and gives the Sox options to conserve their pitchers down the stretch, perhaps even going to a six-man rotation. While the addition of Liriano might not help as much as adding a Ryan Dempster or Josh Beckett, keeping Jake Peavy, Sale, Quintana and Floyd as fresh as possible may be enough for strong playoff push.