Francisco Liriano as an ‘opener?’ He doesn’t want to — and the Pirates agree

Things are so desperate for the Pittsburgh Pirates in regards to the health of their starting rotation they recently used two Triple-A pitchers as “openers” for three games over a span of a week.

As luck would have it, the Pirates have a former All-Star starting pitcher in their bullpen, a player who won 42 games as a starter in his first stint with the team.

So, why not use Francisco Liriano to open games?

Turns out, he doesn’t want to.

“I don’t want to start anymore,” the 35-year-old veteran told 93.7 The Fan on Saturday. “I just want to be in the bullpen and get myself established in the bullpen.”

“I don’t mind doing anything,” Liriano added, according to The Fan’s Noah Hiles. “Two, three or just one inning, I don’t mind at all. I just don’t want to start.”

When I asked him if he’d be comfortable if the Pirates used him as the bulk or middle guy on a bullpen game he said “I don’t mind doing anything. Two, three or just one inning, I don’t mind at all. I just don’t want to start.” @937theFan

— Noah Hiles (@Noah_Hiles95) May 25, 2019

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is OK with that.

“He has been in and out of the rotation for two years,” Hurdle explained, citing Liriano’s middling performance from 2016-18 for four teams. “Now, he finds a niche where he is pitching the best baseball he’s pitched in three years — and someone wants to take him from there and, ‘Let’s put him (at starter) now?’

“Creative thought. (But how much so) in the context of how much sense does it make for the person who’s got to do it? So we are mindful of that. His name was tabled early.”

After having a 4.89 ERA over 73 starts and 23 relief appearances for the Pirates, Toronto, Houston and Detroit the past three seasons, Liriano has a 0.77 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with 30 strikeouts and 14 hits allowed in 23 1/3 innings as a late-inning set-up man this season.

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