Spring Training Roundup

First, let's all give thanks that Duke has, once again, bowed out of the tournament early (being a Pitt alum, I never thought I'd find myself rooting for WVU -- but for today at least I was doing exactly that). Now, onto the Twins:

1.) With Livan Hernandez and Boof Bonser locked into the rotation, all attention has turned to the other three spots. While I'll be posting more specific thoughts on this tomorrow in my roster update, for now I'll just say that Kevin Slowey has likely nailed a spot down as well. The real questions surround Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker, who both will be on the roster if they're healthy enough to contribute. I'm more comfortable with Baker right now than I am with Liriano, although I still think there's a better than 50% chance that both start the season in the rotation. Today, Nick Blackburn yet again made a solid argument for being the first alternate, with Philip Humber and Brian Bass right behind. Glen Perkins' mediocre spring continued, as he gave up four more hits (including 2 runs, 3 earned) in an inning of work. I strongly suspect that, in light of the solid performances by the other competitors, Perkins has been removed from consideration for a spot in the rotation.

2.) With yesterday's cuts of Randy Keisler and Ricky Barrett, Perkins seemed to be in a good position to get the last spot in the bullpen. However, there seems to be a lot of sentiment towards keeping Brian Bass on the team in that spot so as not to lose him; Bass is out of options and has had an excellent spring, so he'd probably end up being claimed off of waivers if he were cut from camp. While I was originally in favor of carrying a second lefty in the bullpen, I have to admit that I wasn't dazzled by any of the lefties that the team had in camp. With all of the youth that's going to be in the rotation, a 12 man pitching staff is probably a necessity, however. In that case, why not carry a guy like Bass who can give you a bunch of innings if necessary? He may not be a lefty, but he's pitched well and by keeping him on the roster you avoid losing him. I'd be somewhat surprised at this point if Bass didn't win this job.

3.) La Velle Neal of the Star Tribune suggests today that Matt Tolbert may be the leader in the battle for the second backup infielder position, thanks largely to the implosion of Brian Buscher. I really can't argue with his logic; Tolbert has played reasonably well, while Buscher has suffered through a wicked slump of late (at least he got a hit today). Meanwhile, someone (can't remember who) pointed out the other day that there doesn't seem to be a lot of reason to carry two left-handed hitting third basemen on the team (starter Mike Lamb is the other lefty), and I have to agree with that logic as well. While I have viewed Tolbert as nothing more than a longshot all spring, I have to acknowledge now that keeping him on the team might make sense. Of course, the question of playing time for a guy like Tolbert might be an issue -- and that's why I'm still not convinced that he's going to make the squad.

4.) Incidentally, Brendan Harris might have taken a step towards winning the job as the starting second baseman today by going 3-for-4. I say "might" because honestly, he's not exactly had a great spring, and one game doesn't change that. With Nick Punto having an equally horrid spring to this point, however, a few good at-bats might be all it takes to win Harris the job. Of course, as I mentioned a few days ago, a platoon situation has to still be considered a strong possibility as well.

5.) Carlos Gomez went 2-for-4 with a double, 2 K's, and yet another stolen base today. Denard Span got a hit in his only at-bat after replacing Gomez. Honestly, I've been really impressed with Span's play this spring -- but this job has to go to Gomez, doesn't it? It just seems to me that, despite his youth and propensity to make some big mistakes, he also has the potential to be a difference maker on the team even this year. I think Span would make fewer mistakes, but also would be nowhere near as spectacular overall. Honestly, I'm fine with whatever choice the Twins make -- I don't doubt that Gomez could benefit from some more seasoning in AAA -- but if I were making this decision, I'd almost certainly go with Gomez.

Spring Roundup

I didn't get a chance to post on yesterday's game, so here's a two day post covering the rather interesting developments of the last two days:

1.) Scott Baker's illness is all over news, and I have to admit it doesn't look good. Baker will hopefully be able to get a bullpen session in on Thursday and get a start on Saturday or Sunday, but that would seem to be an absolutely best case scenario, and very little with Baker has followed the best case over the last ten days. If he can't meet that schedule, he is unlikely to be able to get his arm strength up to the necessary level to start the season on the big league roster, and he would probably start on the DL. Obviously, for the young guys in camp, Baker's illness may present a chance to get into the rotation at the start of the year -- but for fans, this is a blow. Baker could very well be the best pitcher in the rotation this year, and any time that he misses will be disappointing.

2.) Francisco Liriano still can't throw his slider consistently, and his arm strength isn't up where it needs to be yet. Nonetheless, the Twins seem to still be leaning towards starting the season with him in the rotation, and having him work his way back to full strength at the big league level. I agree with this plan, but if Liriano is really bad early then he should probably be sent down. There's no reason to mess with his confidence any more than it's already been messed with. Maybe that's a reason to have him start the season on a rehab assignment in Florida, but I think that if there's any chance for him to make the roster then he needs to do so. I think he'll improve more quickly that way, even if it does likely mean some poor performances early on.

3.) Philip Humber was finally given a start today, and while he wasn't great he also wasn't that bad. Humber gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings of work while striking out 2. I think that keeps him in the running for a spot in the rotation, but his competition stepped up today as well. Nick Blackburn gave up 2 hits in 2 innings, Glen Perkins and Randy Keisler both had perfect innings, and Casey Daigle (a candidate for the bullpen) went 2 innings while allowing just a hit and a walk. We'll see what Kevin Slowey and Brian Bass do the next time they go out, but the big winner here is probably Blackburn, who continues to look sharp.

4.) Brian Buscher's rough patch continued, as he went 0-for-4 today. Meanwhile, longshot roster candidate Matt Tolbert went 3-for-4 and stole a base, bringing his spring average to .308. As I said before, I think Buscher and Randy Ruiz at least bring some power to the bench (more Ruiz than Buscher), while Tolbert is essentially another Harris or Punto off the bench (with offensive ability probably between the two). Still, with Buscher in an absolutely evil slump and Ruiz an unlikely choice, Tolbert might take the position by default if he keeps playing well.

5.) Carlos Gomez went 0-for-3 but stole 2 more bases. Talk about accentuating his biggest weakness while demonstrating his most significant strength! Gomez has stolen 8 bases this spring -- I wonder what he'd do in a full season if he got on base at least reasonably often. More than likely we'll get a chance to find out.

Spring Roundup

As promised, here are some thoughts on the happenings of the last few days of games:

1.) Phillies pitchers this afternoon struggled mightily, as a whole host of Twins players picked up multi-hit games today. I'll start by discussing the duel that developed throughout the day between Carlos Gomez and Denard Span. Gomez ended up going 3-for-4 with a homer and a couple of steals (one on a pickoff play -- the steal is great and all, Gomez has to reign himself in a bit and not get hung out like that). Span countered by going 2-for-5 with a double and at least one great catch in center. Honestly, if Gomez keep playing like this, he's unbeatable in the race in CF -- but I'm pleasantly surprised at Span and Jason Pridie (who picked up a hit in his only at bat) hanging in there. Incidentally, Gomez was following up a 2-for-5 day of his own, so he's 5 for his last 9. Span, on the other hand, went 0-for-4 in his last game.

2.) Nick Punto is 3-for-8 in his last two games. That's not going to set the world on fire, but it looks effective put up against Brendan Harris' 0-for-4 in that span. Frankly, all I wanted from either of these guys was to start showing some offense -- Harris did that a few days ago, and Punto is starting to do a little of it now. With Punto playing at least moderately well over the past couple of days, I have to think he's doing enough to stay in the drivers seat to win the 2B job.

3.) We haven't seen Brian Buscher in three days -- does that mean anything? I think he's in pretty good shape to try to claim a roster spot, especially after the first two round of cuts when Jose Morales and Alexi Casilla were sent down. However, if the Twins were interested in putting him on the roster, wouldn't they be giving him more AB's against big leaguers? Not that I have an answer for who they'd go with instead -- Randy Ruiz maybe, but he hasn't had any at-bats in awhile either. Garrett Jones, who's out of options and could theoretically be kept around as a backup 1B/OF/DH/bat off the bench, has received 5 AB's over the last few days and hasn't picked up a hit. As of late, no one seems to want to claim the last position player roster spot.

4.) The battle to win spots in the rotation sure is getting interesting, isn't it? Kevin Slowey started today and went 4 very solid innings, allowing just a run (and that on a homer by Ryan Howard -- we really can't fault him for that, can we?) and 2 hits while striking out 5 batters. Glen Perkins got himself into a bit more trouble in his 2 innings of work, but ended up giving up just 1 run on 3 hits in that stretch while striking out a batter. Add to those performances two excellent outings yesterday from Boof Bonser (4 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 3 K's) and Philip Humber (3 hitless innings -- and still a perfect ERA this spring), as well as scoreless performances on Thursday from Brian Bass and Randy Keisler, and this thing just keeps getting more and more interesting. The only guy who really struggled over the past few days on the mound was Nick Blackburn, who gave up 3 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings of work on Thursday -- but if he can recover by his next outing, that's not going to take him out of the running for a starting spot. I'm going to go into some detail on the issue of who should get spots when I post my next roster projections tomorrow -- but there's no question that it's a lot of fun to watch right now!

5.) Glen Perkins could still end up in the bullpen as the team's 12th pitcher, but I'm still thinking that Carmen Cali is going to get that spot. He's out of options, he's had a good spring, and the Twins saw what he could do last year, and so are presumably comfortable with him. Unless he really struggles over the next couple of weeks, I think he's the guy. On the downside, his 0.00 ERA has been earned in just 3.2 innings of work this spring, and he has more walks (3) than K's (2), which is never good. Still, I'll be a bit surprised if they go in a different direction with this spot.

6.) This is a huge week for the Twins and the players fighting for spots. The last week of the spring is usually used to hammer the team that's going North into shape, getting guys as many AB's and innings as possible (without wearing them out, of course). This week, in other words, is not the week to have a bad performance in camp. I'm actually expecting a couple of cuts tomorrow or early next week, with a bunch of cuts coming up a week from tomorrow. I'm guessing we'll know who wins most of these spots by Wednesday the 26th, at the latest -- but I certainly could be wrong. Personally, I hope they don't drag it out.

Oh No! The Mayor's Cup is Lost!

Alright, someone has to pay. The Twins will have to hang their heads in shame when walking around Ft. Myers for the next year, as they lost the Mayor's Cup 3 games to 2, losing to the Red Sox today 12-7. I guess the Red Sox were just warming up with that World Series title last year . . .
On to some stuff that really matters:

1.) Francisco Liriano obviously wasn't sharp today, but I disagree completely with the idea that he has no chance to make the big league squad out of spring training. Yes, Liriano only went 2+ innings today -- but he threw 58 pitches, which is about what he would have been at with three solid innings of work. In other words, he got his work in today, and that's what's important at this time of year. Now, that said, he's going to have to perform well in the next couple of weeks to get an immediate ticket to the Majors instead of a rehab visit to Rochester -- but I think he's still on track to do that, especially if the Twins slot him in at the back end of the rotation to give him some extra time to get ready. Time will tell, but I don't think he's done yet.

2.) One guy who probably is out of contention after today's poor performance is Kevin Mulvey. Mulvey went 2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits with a K. Mulvey started off camp behind a whole slew of pitchers, and would have needed to be brilliant this spring to win a job. Today's performance was not brilliant, and with more seasoned options ahead of him, whatever chance Mulvey had more than likely came to an end today. UPDATE: I should mention that at least one reader felt that I'm being a bit harsh on Mulvey, since he would have gotten out of the inning if Gomez hadn't lost a ball in the sun. It's a fair enough point, but I stand by my argument -- Mulvey needed to be brilliant all spring to springboard past a load of guys in front of him (here's my count -- Hernandez, Baker, Bonser, Liriano if healthy, Slowey, Perkins, Blackburn, Humber, and probably Bass -- am I missing anyone?), and he wasn't brilliant. I therefore stand by my original comment, and I don't expect Mulvey to be in big league camp much longer. Feel free, as always, to disagree in the comments.

3.) Offense out of the 2B position! Really!?! Brendan Harris finally put together a 2 hit game, going 2-for-3 and driving in 3 runs. Nick Punto has been horrendous at the plate, but until this point Harris hadn't been much better. This helps his cause, but he'll need to keep it up over the remainder of the spring to beat out Punto's strong defense. This was, at least, a start.

4.) Brian Buscher went 0-for-3 again today, dropping his spring average to .190. I still believe what I said yesterday -- that Buscher has impressed the coaching staff this Spring and has a very good chance of making the roster, despite his struggles over the last couple of days. Nonetheless, Buscher's recent offensive struggles might open the door for another candidate -- somebody like, say . . .

5.) Randy Ruiz! Ruiz went 1-for-2 today with 2 runs score (I presume he reached on an error, but I could be wrong). If Ruiz keeps hitting, he's got a shot. He's more limited than Buscher defensively (which is a big reason why Buscher has a bit of an edge for that roster spot), but you never know what might happen. Now, one thing I wasn't aware of until digging a little deeper on Ruiz was his past history with the Scarlet "S" of baseball -- back in 2005, Ruiz apparently tested positive for steroids twice (yes, twice in the same season). At this point, one would hope that he's moved on beyond his steroid-using past, but it was disappointing to hear about the past use. Still, I'm not naive enough to think that no Twins players have ever used steroids (heck, Rincon has that positive test on his record, and other past Twins like Matt Lawton have been implicated as well) -- so is it worse to know about the use, or to just naively think no one is using? I guess I'm glad I know about Ruiz's past, but so long as he isn't using now, I'm also not going to let it stop me from rooting for him to have a solid spring.

6.) Carlos Gomez went 0-for-3 again today -- could Denard Span really be pulling into the lead for this battle? This really is going to fascinating to watch down the stretch!

Spring Training Game #12

The Twins picked up another win this afternoon, beating the Marlins 4-2. Some quick thoughts:

1.) Kevin Slowey finally put together a solid outing, going 3 scoreless innings while allowing 6 hits and striking out 3 without walking anyone. I'm a little concern about the number of hits -- two per innings is too many -- but he was able to get out of trouble and picked up a fair number of K's. Phil Humber, meanwhile, picked up 2 more scoreless innings today to continue his excellent spring. While I consider him to be behind Slowey, Blackburn, and Perkins in the battle for a spot in the rotation, there's no question that he's been excellent this spring (in games that count, anyway), and he belongs in the conversation as well.

2.) Carlos Gomez went 0-for-3 while Denard Span went 1-for-1 and stole a base and Pridie went 1-for-1 as well. Can the phenom hold onto his advantage, or will Span (or Pridie) come up and steal it from him? We aren't going to know until the last week of camp, I would guess, but it sure is fun to follow day-to-day.

3.) Randy Ruiz went 1-for-3 today (which qualifies as a bad day for him with the spring that he's putting together), but the one hit was a big one -- a three RBI double that provided the winning margin for the team. I seem to say it every day, but keep your eyes on Ruiz.

4.) Another day, another Brendan Harris 0-fer. If you have two choices at 2B, and neither is hitting, you go with the guy who provides plus-defense, right? Am I wrong here? I realize that the sample size is still small, and I accept that Harris is a better hitter than he's showing (and a better hitter than Punto, for that matter), but having seen a bit of Harris' defense this spring, I'm actually starting to lean in Punto's direction. Feel free to bash me in the comments on this if you must . . .

5.) My guess is that Tommy Watkins will be cut within the next week. He's done nothing offensively (0-for-3 again today) and I still think that he looks like he gained weight in the off-season. Watkins callup last year was a great story, but I don't think it's going to be repeated in 2008.

Today's Big Winner: Kevin Slowey
Runner-Up: Phil Humber

Today's Big Loser: Tommy Watkins
Runner-Up: Brendan Harris

Friday Game Update

I'm a day late, but to get back on the saddle I wanted to make a few short observations about yesterday's games -- hopefully observation that cover ground other than that covered by the Star Tribune or the Twins website yesterday.

1.) The first observation was covered very substantially yesterday, but it's important so I'm covering it again. I think there's a very good chance that yesterday was the day that Carlos Gomez unofficially won the starting CF job, after an excellent 2-for-5 performance that showed off his potential to get extra base hits, his speed, and his defensive ability. I suspect that Gomez was rushed to the big leagues by the Mets last year, and I would prefer if he had a chance to go to AAA to work on his swing -- but when he gets on base, he's going to be a lot of fun to watch. While Gomez was having his great day, Denard Span was going 0-for-4 and Jason Pridie 0-for-1 (in LF). I expected Gomez to win the job anyway, but a day like yesterday that showcases his abilities so effectively had to make the coaches salivate at the possibilities.

2.) Remember how I said that Randy Ruiz was somebody to watch who isn't being talked about a lot? Well, yesterday showed why. As the DH in the Toronto game, Ruiz went 3-for-4 with a monster homerun. He's now hitting .429 for the spring, has 2 homers, and to me he deserves to be in the conversation. He's essentially battling Brian Buscher and the bevy of middle infielders in camp for the second backup infielder spot (although he'd be a 1B/OF/DH type if he made the team, leaving Nick Punto and Brendan Harris to cover 3B when Mike Lamb was out). He probably won't make the team, but I'll be watching closely.

3.) Just a note -- Delmon Young is hitting .563 this spring. I can't wait to see him play in real games.

4.) The starting pitcher battle heated up a good bit yesterday. After a week or so where several contenders (Glen Perkins and Kevin Slowey in particular) struggled, yesterday saw a number of guys put up pretty solid performances. Perkins (3 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 3 K's, 1 BB), Phil Humber (2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 3 K's), Kevin Mulvey (2 innings, 0 runs, 2 K's), Nick Blackburn (2.1 innings, 0 runs, 1 walk), and of course Francisco Liriano (1.2 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 K, 1 BB) all had excellent performances. Those are the kinds of performances that fans were hoping (and expecting, I think) to see when the spring started -- and if they can keep it up, the battle for starting spots is going to be great fun.

5.) One last note -- after losing the first two games of the Mayor's Cup series to the Red Sox, the Twins have battled back to tie the series. The series will end on Wednesday, with the Twins at home and pride on the line. Honestly, few things in spring are as silly or meaningless as the Mayor's Cup -- but it's still fun to pay attention to, and this year's compressed version (due to the Red Sox trip to Japan to start the MLB season) made it a little more interesting, in my opinion.

Yesterday's Big Winner: Carlos Gomez (showcased all his talents)
Runner-Up: Randy Ruiz (3-for-4 day and showed off his power)

Yesterday's Big Loser: Denard Span (0-for-4 day bad in comparison to Gomez)
Runner-Up: Tommy Watkins (0-for-2 day leaves him still hitless this Spring)

Spring Training Game #4

The Twins finally picked up their first Spring win today, avoiding a Mayor's Cup sweep. Just a couple of points from the day:

1.) The battle in center got more interesting today, with Denard Span getting to play a full game in center and with Jason Pridie replacing Michael Cuddyer in right. Span went 1-for-5, and his hit wasn't exactly a hot line drive. Pridie went 2-for-2, driving in 2 runs and scoring one. If Pridie or Span really gets going offensively, they might give Carlos Gomez a run for his money.

2.) Nick Punto got a hit! Honestly, I think he's a better hitter than his .210 average from 2007 indicates (although not as good as his 2006 might suggest). Defensively, he made a mistake in trying to take a runner between first and second rather than just tossing the ball to Adam Everett at short to go for a 4-6-3 double play, and ended up getting an out only at first. However, from what I saw of the game, he handled everything else effectively and again made a couple of solid plays. Honestly, I don't think this battle is going to come down to what Punto does this spring -- he's a known quantity, while Brendan Harris is not (to the Twins, at least). As a result, the battle will come down to whether Harris can demonstrate solid defense while also showing himself to be a better choice offensively than Punto.

3.) Livan Hernandez was pretty solid in his 2 innings of work, although he did give up a line drive homerun to Mike Lowell. Overall though, this was a nice first performance for Hernandez in a Twins uniform -- and hopefully a sign of what's to come. Hernandez will give up plenty of homers, but if he can keep guys off base that's not going to hurt him too badly. Like I said, a good first performance.

4.) Overall a solid performance from the relievers, with Dennys Reyes, Matt Guerrier, and Pat Neshek amongst the regulars getting in the game. Julio DePaula got a chance to pitch 2 innings, and didn't allow a hit -- although he did walk two batters. Bobby Korecky and Ricky Barrett also got some solid work in. These performances aren't going to win any of them jobs, but they are going to prevent them from falling out of contention.

Spring Training Game #2

Joe Christensen has an excellent post on his Strib blog covering many of the major points that I wanted to comment on, and if you haven't read through it already, I recommend you check it out. A few things I wanted to highlight:

1.) Christensen states that so far in camp, the player who has "raised his stock" the most has been Brian Buscher, who homered last night in one of the few Twins offensive highlights. I don't dispute that at all, but I wonder how much Buscher can actually do to earn himself a roster spot. Mike Lamb was brought in to be the starting 3B, and was given a multi-year deal to boot. Even an amazing spring by Buscher and a rough one by Lamb isn't going to earn Buscher the starting job. That leaves a backup spot, but Buscher will need to establish that he can play a little 1B in addition to 3B to justify taking him as the second backup infielder (Punto or Harris will be the first backup, depending on which one loses the 2B job). I think it's going to be tough for Buscher to claim that roster spot, but we'll see.

2.) Tommy Watkins replaced Buscher and went 0-for-2. I watched this game on MLB.tv, and to me it looked like Watkins was bigger than last year -- as if Bonser's disappearing weight went to Watkins. Did anyone else notice this? Am I making it up? Bad camera angle? Just wondering.

3.) The Twins are giving Carlos Gomez every opportunity to win the starting spot in CF, as he's played in each of the first two games and is getting the start again today in the second Red Sox game. It appears so far that the rap on Gomez is legit -- he's got a great arm, is amazingly fast, and looks lost at the plate. Two out of three ain't bad -- but it's also not enough. He needs to be at least a serviceable hitter to make the big squad . . . or at least outlast Denard Span and Jason Pridie as the best option.

4.) Randy Ruiz is my dark horse in camp. His career minor league numbers are solid, and he has some power. He also supposedly can play a little bit in the outfield (although he didn't exactly look spry yesterday, so how well he plays out there I don't know). If he has a good spring and demonstrates that he can handle more than just 1B, he might surprise some people. It's not likely, but he's an interesting name who I'll be watching this spring.

5.) Boof looked good, Slowey didn't. Remember, bad performances are a bit magnified for pitchers due to the heavy competition and the generally small number of chances to make an impression. As with Glen Perkins poor performance yesterday, this by no means takes Slowey out of the battle for a starting spot, but it does put a little pressure on him to perform effectively the next time out.

6.) Speaking of pitchers with poor performances, Mariano Gomez got roughed up last night as well, and for him it's more serious. Slowey came into camp as something of a penciled-in favorite to win a starting spot. Gomez comes in as just one of many pitchers hoping to win the 12th pitcher slot. That difference explains a lot about how exactly the Twins will respond to their respective performances.

Spring Training Game #1

Earlier today, I promised some post-game reaction to today's game against the Reds. I also said it would be short and sweet -- and indeed that's exactly what it will be. If you want the "professional" recap from the Twins website, head here. Now, my thoughts:

1.) The Twins centerfield battle got off to a sputtering start, with both Carlos Gomez and Jason Pridie going 0-for-2. It sounds like Gomez made a nice defensive play to compensate for the uninspiring offense, but he also supposedly looked pretty bad at the plate overall. As I said earlier, though, poor offensive performances early on aren't particularly troublesome -- let's see how he's hitting in three weeks.

2.) Brendan Harris made a poor defensive play in failing to turn a double play today. My response -- big deal. The Twins now that Harris is not the defensive player that Nick Punto is, and if they decide to go with him at 2B, they're accepting the fact that they'll have more defensive mistakes made than they would with Punto. The argument for going with Harris is based on his better offense, not on his defense -- unless he turns into an absolute butcher at the position. One bad throw isn't going to earn him the reputation of a butcher, and going 0-for-2 isn't going to cost him his reputation as a better hitter than Punto either. Nonetheless, it's undoubtedly not the start that fans who want to see Punto ousted from the starting lineup were hoping to see.

3.) Glen Perkins and Ricky Barrett both got rocked today, with Gardy saying it was because they left the ball up. This hurts Barrett a lot more than Perkins -- Barrett's only chance to make the team (and it was extremely slim) was to have an undeniably fantastic spring. For him, a performance like this could be the end of whatever slim chances he had. Perkins, however, has demonstrated that he's a pretty good pitcher -- and the Twins will give him opportunities to return to form.

4.) Nice performance overall from a lot of guys, although most of them didn't really need to do much but get some work in. Baker, Neshek, and Guerrier aren't fighting for spots -- they have spots sewn up. For Julio DePaula and Casey Daigle, though, every little bit helps -- even a one inning performance in the first spring game of the year.