Nothing much to report on the Vancouver Canadians front this time of year, and nary a scrap on the A’s front either. But in the interest of keeping the site looking like it’s still populated, here’s a few scraps that may or may not be of interest.

Francisco Liriano – dead until 2008
Young Twins phenom pitcher and recent surgery recipient Liriano (seen left, demonstrating his famous Pretzel Pitch) has told the AP, "I won’t start to throw until two months from now
and I’ll do my first bullpen work six months later," effectively taking
one of the best pitchers in the game and sticking him right back into
the middle of the pack, killing a year of his development, removing a
year from what could have been Hall of Fame career, and leaving fans
short one GPTWEOSET (that’s ‘great player to watch even on someone
else’s team’, if you’re not down with blog lingo).

According to
the article, Liriano said he started five times while feeling pain,
which could have aggravated the injury. Gee, ya think?

"I decided to tough it out, even though now I know I shouldn’t have," Liriano said.

No, Francisco, it isn’t YOU that knows you shouldn’t have. It’s the
Twins management that knows you shouldn’t have. It’s the guys that put
the first round of the playoffs ahead of your career, and their playoff
chances in 2007.

Competing against Roger Clemens, a childhood idol, was one
the highlights last season for Liriano. "That was one of the most
emotional games, especially because I was able to win thanks to God."

Presumably God wasn’t that interested in the kid’s health as he was
engineering his victory over Clemens, or he might have parted the
clouds, reached down from up high, and spanked Minnesota pitching coach
Rick Anderson’s ass.

Gregorio Petit – utilityman?
Baseball America has hinted that 2004 Vancouver infield maestro (and wannabe powerlord) Gregorio Petit may move to third base this season in AA Midland, and could even find himself playing outfield. The BA folk are saying that Oakland thinks the kid might have his best shot at the majors as being a jack of all trades, rather than a middle infield specialist, but I personally think they’re missing his best shot of all – learning that he doesn’t have to hit a home run every time at the plate.

A .300-hitting Petit, with his defensive genius and above average speed, should be enough to push a Bobby Crosby or Mark Ellis in a couple of seasons, without needing him to fill time in the outfield. Teach the kid to flash the leather, not the power, and he’d be a diamond. But as an outfielder? Not to much…

Oakland prospects dominate the also-rans
BA recently put out their top-10 prospects lists for each team, and now they’ve filled some gaps by putting out a list of the players who just missed out on making their annual prospects handbook – the 31st team, as it were. Oakland has strong representation on the list, with 5 out of the 54. They include:

• Santiago "Old Man" Casilla (Vancouver 2002)
• Toddric "Hot Toddy" Johnson (Vancouver 2006)
• "Ouchy" Donnie Murphy (recent pickup from Kansas City)
• Luis "Pitcher Killer" Perez (Vancouver 2003)
• Gregorio "Pirouette" Petit (Vancouver 2004)

Interesting tidbits provided by BA include that Casilla has lost velocity on his fastball of late, Murphy played most of 2005 and 2006 with a broken hand (!), and Luis Perez has got his groove back in AA ball.