White Sox acquire Francisco Liriano

The White Sox have acquired pitcher Francisco Liriano from the Twins in exchange for infielder Eduardo Escobar and pitcher Pedro Hernandez.

Liriano's name has been mentioned as a trade candidate for a few years now. He is eligible for free agency after this year, and is owned about $2.1 million for the rest of this season. Injuries and awful inconsistency has plagued Liriano's career. This year he has posted a 5.31 ERA in 100 innings pitched for Minnesota.

Chicago is getting themselves one of the premier strikeout pitchers in the game. Liriano's pitches are always filthy, and he owns a 9.8 K/9 this year. Unfortunately, he has had trouble with his control, as walks have always been an issue. He will now join a White Sox rotation that figures to include Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, which means that Chicago will have three lefties in their starting rotation.

Escobar has hit .202 in 99 plate appearances this year. He has been used as a utility player in the past, playing second, third, shortstop, and left field. He has a career .270 batting average in the minors, and Baseball America ranked him as the Chicago's tenth best prospect prior to this season.

Hernandez struggled in his first MLB start earlier this year, allowing eight runs in four innings. He played very well in the minors this season, posting a 2.94 ERA in 85 2/3 innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

Both Hernandez and Escobar have been assigned to Minnesota's Triple-A affiliate, the team announced.

Analysis: This a decent, low risk trade by Kenny Williams (White Sox GM.) I've never been much of a Liriano supporter but maybe he just needs a change of scenery. Hopefully he gets his crap together with Chicago. As for Escobar, I don't know where he will play for Minnesota. I see him as either a shortstop or third baseman, but I seriously doubt the Twins will use him at shortstop. I'm sure they'll want to give young shortstop Brian Dozier a look at the position before Escobar. Hernandez looks like a good prospect, however. I'm not alarmed by his poor start earlier this year. His minor league numbers are solid and he is still young (23 years old.) The Twins have been looking to add young arms and they got one in Hernandez.