Liriano update

Monday, 11 February 2013 10:07

Written by Bill Brink

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Francisco Liriano said he broke his right humerus slamming it into a door on Christmas day to scare his children in the adjacent room.

That injury delayed his eventual contract, a one-year deal with a team/vesting option for 2014, and at one point the deal looked as though it may fall apart. Liriano said he had to call his agent, Greg Genske, to tell him he couldn't travel to the United States to take his physical.

"At first he thought I was joking," Liriano said. "It was sad and disappointing a little bit. Things happen. I wish I could take it back."

Liriano has had his cast removed, but wore a velcro brace on his right arm and for the time being shakes hands with his left hand. He said the fracture was lower in the arm, near the elbow, and the area is still slightly swollen.

Liriano was scheduled to fly to Pittsburgh Dec. 26 to take his physical. He said he didn't feel much pain at first and went to play with his kids, but 20 minutes later the arm started to hurt and he told his wife he needed to go to the hospital.

"I was surprised when I got to the hospital and they told me it was broken," he said.

Liriano did not know the origin of the Spanish-language report out of the Dominican Republic saying he broke his arm in a fall in his bathroom. He said he didn't talk to anyone in the Dominican Republic about the injury.

The fracture forced Liriano to take four weeks off. During the last two weeks he started running, lower-body strength training and playing catch. He still has another month or so, he said, before he will be fully healthy.

If all goes well with Liriano's recovery, he will be back to normal around mid-March. The question is how much high-stress throwing and upper-body workouts he can do while his arm is in the brace and healing. I would imagine he will have to use the rest of March and some of April to build arm strength and stretch himself out. That means Jeff Locke, Kyle McPherson and Jonathan Sanchez, among others, will compete for that final spot in spring training.