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At Genske’s urging, the players’ union plans to investigate whether the Twins have violated Liriano’s rights under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.
“No one is going to tell us who is going to be on our team,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.
The manager added, “I don’t know who is throwing this out there, but it is a joke. ... We have a player in Double-A who’s got like 18 homers. (New Britain’s Luke Hughes actually has 15). His agent is going to start calling us. They cannot dictate what we are going to do.”
After going 12-3 as a rookie in 2006, Liriano underwent reconstructive elbow surgery. He returned to the big leagues in April but landed back in Rochester after going 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA for the Twins.
Liriano, 24, has since rebounded. In his past four starts, he is 4-0 with a 0.32 ERA, three walks and 32 strikeouts. He went eight innings Thursday, holding Norfolk to one run on seven hits, with no walks and eight strikeouts.
“We contacted the players’ association and laid out the facts, and they determined that it was reasonable cause to initiate an investigation,” Genske said.
Union spokesman Greg Bouris confirmed, saying “(General Counsel) Michael Wiener was asked by the agent to investigate, and we will.”
The Twins are 21-7 in their past 28 games and have been generally pleased with all five of their current starters. Their weakest link appears to be Livan Hernandez (9-6, 5.44 ERA), another Genske client.
Liriano has two years and 45 days of major league service time. Most players need three years to qualify for arbitration, but of those between the two- and three-year mark, the top 17 percent qualify as “Super Twos.”
For Liriano, qualifying for arbitration would likely earn him more than $1 million in additional 2009 salary.
Even if the Twins promoted him Friday, with 73 days remaining in the season, he would reach two years and 118 days, and still likely fall short of the Super Two threshold.
Twins General Manager Bill Smith compared Liriano to Denard Span, who was thriving at Rochester but waited for his latest promotion until Michael Cuddyer’s injury opened a roster spot.
“It’s a difficult situation,” Smith said. “I know (Liriano’s) frustrated. I know he wants to get back to the big leagues. He’s a competitor. We’re thrilled to see how well he’s doing ... I have no doubt that he’s going to be a big part of this organization in the future.”
Staff writer La Velle E. Neal III contributed to this report.
