Liriano to Miss 2007; Pedro Mulls Retirement

Two of MLB’s better pitchers are facing uncertain futures. Minnesota Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano, who burst onto the scene with a vengeance as a 22-year-old in 2006, has elected to undergo “Tommy John” surgery on his left elbow and is expected to miss the entire 2007 season. Obviously, this is a huge blow for the Twins, who looked to feature two of the most devastating left-handers (Liriano and perennial Cy Young award favroite Johan Santana) in their rotation for years to come. On the bright side, Liriano is very young and the track record for recovering from Tommy John surgery is quite good.

Meanwhile, New York Mets right-hander Pedro Martinez reportedly is contemplating retirement if his attempt to come back from shoulder surgery doesn’t go as planned. The amusing part of this one is that apparently the Mets weren’t aware that Martinez was considering retirement. Hmmm, I’m thinking you might want to let your employer in on something like that before mentioning it to the media.