Mike Maroth Update

I caught a snippet of Mike Maroth‘s conversation with Tigers’ radio voice Dan Dickerson and former pitcher Dan Petry on 1270-AM WXYT’s Inside Tiger Town on my way home from work tonight.

Maroth reports the elbow feels good. In fact, in his words, “it feels stronger than my shoulder. It’s a little surprising when you think about it, but (the training staff) says that’s normal.”

That’s some encouraging news. His 200+ innings would be a welcome addition to the current rotation. Maroth said he plans on a normal spring training and thinks the shoulder will catch up to the elbow as he goes through his usual work.

Also learned on the program that The Sporting News has pegged the Minnesota Twins its AL Central favorite this year with the Tigers slotted for second. The only surprise in this, I suppose, is TSN is putting an awful lot of emphasis on the Twins’ young starting pitchers — or in free agent retreads Sydney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz.