MINNEAPOLIS -- A complaint filed by Francisco Liriano's agent, Greg Genske, to the players' union asking for an investigation into whether the Twins have violated the collective bargaining agreement by keeping the young pitcher at Triple-A Rochester has riled the man Liriano is hoping to return working for.

"I'm a little bit tired of that stuff," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We have a good team here. We are a game-and-a-half out, I come back into town, and we want to talk about the guy in Triple-A."

Liriano has been exceptional in the Minor Leagues recently, going 7-0 with a 2.73 ERA in his last nine starts at Rochester.

A grievance could attempt to reclaim Major League service time. Because Liriano was demoted from the Twins in late April, he will not qualify for salary arbitration with three years of service time. Additionally, it could also prevent the lefty from qualifying as a Super Two player.

Gardenhire was not happy with the situation and focused most of his wrath on Genske and ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney.

"I just back into town and I hear all this stuff, and Buster Olney is making my team up now and [Genske] wants to tell me who is going to pitch here," Gardenhire said. "No one is going to tell us who to put on our team and no one on ESPN is going to tell us who should pitch for my team. They haven't been here all year. If they had been down there and seen the guy pitch, and then started talking, that's one thing. But to read stats, that's another thing. I recommend they go down there and watch him pitch, come back with a good report for me and walk into my office."

Liriano was sent down after struggling to return from Tommy John elbow ligament surgery that caused him to miss all of 2007. Liriano was 0-3 in three April starts with an 11.32 ERA in 10 1/3 innings.

"He was here earlier. How did he do? How did he do?" Gardenhire asked.

The biggest problem for Liriano currently is the Twins' depth of starting pitching. The club is happy with its rotation of Livan Hernandez, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins and Nick Blackburn. Additionally, the club has former starter Boof Bonser in the bullpen, as well as two left-handed relievers in Dennys Reyes and Craig Breslow.

"He's pitching well, and he's trying to force the issue," Gardenhire said. "And what should all Minor Leaguers try to do? Try to force the issue. That's the greatest thing in the world. We have depth, now. We have a guy that is knocking on the door and trying to take someone's job. What is wrong with that? I don't get it."

Still, the skipper was cognizant of future ramifications that could arise from bending to the will of others outside the organization.

"We have a guy that has 18 homers in Double-A and his agent is going to start calling if we start letting all this happen," Gardenhire said. "You don't let other people dictate what we do."