Jim Souhan: Wishing for a bold trade? Liriano would've been bait

In July, the Brewers added CC Sabathia and Ray Durham, the Cubs added Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin, the Dodgers added Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez, the Tigers added Kyle Farnsworth, the Yankees added Pudge Rodriguez, Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady, the Red Sox added Jason Bay, the White Sox added Ken Griffey Jr., the Angels added Mark Teixiera and the Diamondbacks added Jon Rauch.

The Twins countered with a strategical move akin to the Blitzkrieg sequence in chess, threatening to dump Adam Everett before activating him as their secret weapon in the AL Central race.

Here's how the Twins could have made a deal that would have improved their chances of making the playoffs this year and next year, would have given them a deep and dangerous lineup and would have made up for a winter's worth of mistakes by the front office.

It would have marked new General Manager Bill Smith as an intelligent risk-taker to anyone who understands that the Twins need to sell high.

The Twins should have traded Francisco Liriano.

Twins fans have been lobbying for Smith to make two moves this month: to call up Liriano and trade for Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre. In fact, the Twins should have traded Liriano for Beltre.

Twins fans would probably hang Smith in effigy if he traded their darling Liriano, but then most Twins fans cheered for Lew Ford.

He's already gotten nailed with a DUI and complained about not being called up -- which should be viewed as an affront to his future big-league teammates who had pitched the Twins into spitting distance of first place.

Fans remember Liriano as unhittable and charming, and he has scythed through the International League this summer. Talk to someone other than a stat geek, though, and you'll hear that Liriano is facing mediocre competition, is throwing most of his fastballs at 91 mph, and will not be the dominant force fans remember, even if he stays healthy.

Now is the time to trade Liriano, when he's posting impressive statistics against a bad league. Trading him to Seattle would have worked well for both teams.

The Mariners, desperate to impress their fan base and needing to get younger, could have marketed a rotation featuring King Felix Hernandez and Franchise Francisco Liriano.

They would have dumped a hefty salary in Beltre's, and the Twins might have even been able to trade unwanted salary in the deal, in the form of third baseman Mike Lamb. With the Twins' glut of good young outfielders, they could even have expanded the deal or made a different one, trading Delmon Young for a pitcher to replace the fading Livan Hernandez.

Imagine this lineup down the stretch: Denard Span, Alexi Casilla or Nick Punto, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Beltre, Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gomez or Delmon Young, and Brendan Harris.

The Twins' front office has built a farm system and young big-league team that positions the franchise to win for years, and has deftly signed key players to long-term deals. In terms of player acquisition, though, the new front office's batting average is lower than Everett's.

Trading a pitcher such as Liriano is the riskiest move a build-from-within team like the Twins can make. But trading Liriano might be less risky than relying on him.