Could Francisco Liriano be the ace of the Pirates Rotation?

I think he very well could be. Frank the Tank has steamrolled through his first three starts. He has struck out 9, 8, and 9 batters in those starts. He has had great control, barely walking anyone. Did I mention that he has an ERA of under 1? 

It's a small sample size for Franky but looking at his past, he's in for one of those career years. When his control is on, he's lights out. He had a great year in 2010 coming off of surgery and won comeback player of the year. His control was solid. The other year he had control like this, was 2006 when he won 12 games with an ERA under 3 and was a Cy Young candidate along with teammate and actual winner Johan Santana. If he can put up those numbers there is no one in this rotation that can say they're better.

If Liriano can keep this up along with AJ Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, and some combination of Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, Jeff Karstens, Jeanmar Gomez, Gerrit Cole, and James McDonald, the Pirates will have a top three starting rotation in all of baseball. And that is a winning combination.