Tuesday's Twins game was, like Monday night's, telecast back home in Minnesota, and I watched most of it.
A few observations:
There is nothing quite like watching Grapefruit League games to realize limitations of the spring stats, even beyond the small sample sizes. There was a strong breeze blowing in Tuesday at the Port Charlotte, Fla., park, and that made it play a lot bigger.
For all the talk early in camp about how Ben Revere had improved his arm by throwing a football, it's pretty obvious that he remains a well-below average thrower.
The Twins had some more sloppy play, but unlike Monday the mistakes by and large didn't factor in the scoring. (One of Tampa Bay's two runs scored because of an error by Darin Mastroianni in left field.) The first few days of exhibitions have been marked by fielding miscues and baserunning blunders. Imagine how slipshod things would be without the three extra days of drills.
I've written before about liking Matt Maloney's minor-league stats, and he looked good Tuesday afternoon. He's out of options, and I don't know how he would fit on the staff, since there are five starters with multi-million contracts ahead of him and other long relief candidates (notably Anthony Swarzak and Terry Doyle) who are also use or lose.
I think Maloney has a good chance to make the team. He looks more reliable than Dumatrait, and having a 3rd lefty might keep Duensing and Perkins from being overused. I know Maloney has been a starter in the minors, but I doubt if that will be his role with the Twins. He could be used as a LOOGY some but I think both Maloney and Duensing could be often used for full innings and multi-innings.
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