Get used to seeing the Diamondbacks. The Cubs play ’em today, and then twice later this week in “exhibition” games before the regular season kicks off on Monday. No TV for today’s game, unfortunately. You can listen on Cubs.com, though.
Jeff Samardzija makes his final Spring start, and you can expect him to have a fairly short outing.
Mike Olt isn’t officially on the Opening Day roster yet, but he’s starting at third base yet again today. With Donnie Murphy on his way out, things are looking good for MIKE OLT!
Javier Baez starts at shortstop, which is fairly interesting, given the other options the Cubs had available. I don’t want to play the speculation game too far, but I wonder if there was some uncertainty as to how today’s roster moves would play out, so the Cubs kept Darwin Barney out of action. You’ll note that the early rumor had the Rangers looking at Murphy and Barney. Then again, Barney isn’t listed as even a reserve for today’s game (Murphy and George Kottaras were), so maybe it’s just a day off.
Speaking of which, Ryan Roberts starts at second base as he makes a final push to make the roster. He’s got a real shot, folks.
Junior Lake starts in center again, and I tend to think he’ll see action both in center and left in the early going this year, but maybe mostly in center?
Lars “And the Real Girl” Anderson (sorry for that) starts at first base, where he’s likely to be the man at AAA Iowa. If you’d forgotten about Anderson, here’s his signing post.
Lineup:
- Junior Lake, CF
- Chris Coghlan, LF
- Nate Schierholtz, RF
- Mike Olt, 3B
- Welington Castillo, C
- Javier Baez, SS
- Ryan Roberts, 2B
- Lars Anderson, 1B
- Jeff Samardzija, P