Twins Trade Francisco Liriano

The Twins traded starting pitcher Francisco Liriano to the White Sox late Saturday night.  They received middle infielder Eduardo Escobar and left handed pitcher Pedro Hernandez in return.  To say I'm disappointed in the Twins return in this deal is an understatement, I just don't see much upside in either of them.  Escobar is a good glove/no hit prospect, his upside is that of a potential utility infielder, not a very good one at that either.  Hernandez is yet another pitch-to-contact pitcher, his upside may be that of a bottom of the rotation starter (although that may be a bit optimistic, best bet IMO seems to be that of a lefthanded middle relief pitcher).  Terry Ryan had said earlier in the week that he was looking for high upside prospects in return in any potential deals, that clearly did not happen here, they essentially gave Liriano away.  To me it reeks of another cost cutting move, something they shouldn't be doing 2 years in to playing in their spanking new ballpark.  I get it that Liriano hasn't been that good since he got back from his arm injury 2 years ago now but he has been pitching fairly well as of late and at this point was clearly the Twins second best starting pitcher (behind Scott Diamond), to just give him away for filler doesn't make sense.  If that was the best deal they could get they may as well have just kept him and finished out the season with him and then let him walk as a free agent (instead of having these 2 guys use up spots on their 40 man roster).  I am quickly losing confidence in the Twins front office, I was hoping for better once Terry Ryan took over for Bill Smith, but they are not giving me much reason for optimism.