Games Start, Pitchers Heal, Other Notes

Happy Leap Day!

Spring Training games are in full swing, and it's nice to once again see some baseball highlights on ESPN. Seeing one of the game's greatest hitters from over a decade ago (Juan Gonzalez) taking the best pitcher in baseball (Johan Santana) deep has to be the most entertaining thing I've seen so far.

Our M's are playing pretty well so far, though I'm not going to get into too many game specifics just yet. Still a bit early to make any relevant observations at this point, in my opinion, though bench hopefuls Mike Morse, Charlton Jimerson and Jeremy Reed have been impressive.

Recovering pitchers Mark Lowe, Chris Reitsma and Arthur Rhodes have started throwing live batting practice, which is good to see. All three of these guys could be important parts of the bullpen this year. Anderson Garcia is also throwing again after taking some time off to recover from tendinitis. Phillipe Aumont is being held out of action with back and hip pain. More on how these guys figure into the bullpen picture here.

Shannon Drayer mentioned that Miguel Batista is working on adding a 12-6 curveball (or 12-5:30, as Batista calls it) to his arsenal. No word on whether or not he'll be unveiling it this year or if it's still a work in progress. He was throwing it his last Spring Training game with mixed results.

I'm getting the itch to do some digging and ink something slightly more original for all of you. Anything in particular you want to read about?