In what has become a largely symbolic date, today, Chicago Cubs’ Spring camp officially opens with pitchers and catchers due to report to Mesa, Arizona by today.
By my very rough estimate (gleaned primarily from the excellent work of Tim Sheridan), the bigger name pitchers and catchers who are due to arrive today are Welington Castillo, Carlos Marmol, and, um … no one else?
Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, Chris Volstad, Travis Wood, Paul Maholm, Kerry Wood, Jeff Samardzija, Geovany Soto, Jason Jaramillo, and Steve Clevenger have all been in camp for a while already, together with a ton of position players and a bunch of young pitchers vying for spots in the bullpen.
So, there isn’t a huge number of “reports” today, but it’s still an important, long-awaited day.
Spring Training is finally, technically, here.