Asked if Genske had told Smith that this was a direction he might take, Smith said, "A little bit. I'm not going to get into everything I talked about with him.

"He and I have spoken," Smith said. "I don't know where that stands, other than that I haven't gotten any notification from Major League Baseball. I don't know what his conversations with the union or whatever have gone like."

Genske appears concerned that the Twins have not called Liriano up to the major league team so that the pitcher would not gain service time that could qualify him for salary arbitration this offseason. Liriano currently has two years and 45 days of service time. Being on the major league roster for a full season would have given him the three years required to gain arbitration rights.

Joining the team earlier this season would have put him in good position to become a "Super Two," which includes the top 17 percent of service time among players with less than three and more than two years with a big-league club.

"If that's the case, then somebody has to explain to me why we called him up in April," Smith said. "Francisco Liriano got sent down because he wasn't ready to pitch here. We tried to bring him up in April, hoping like crazy that he would be healthy and able to succeed at this level. If that gains him salary arbitration status or whatever, so be it. We're just trying to win games."