[adinserter block=”1″]It was a short day at Cubs camp today, with a golf tournament taking up the afternoon (results pending). On the news side of things, Mark Gonzales reports that Matt Murton has had an appendectomy, though the seriousness of the procedure – off-hand, I’m vaguely aware that sometimes it’s a long recovery and sometimes it’s not – is not available yet. Hopefully, for his sake, it’ll be a short-term thing, but it’s hard to know with any surgery. It seems likely that he’s going to miss some time, which would seriously dent his slim chances of making the big league roster out of camp.
Speaking of which, Michael recounted the full slate of players in big league camp right now, and an early look at the expected 25-man roster, if you missed it.
Jake Arrieta will be starting Opening Day, about which Jon Lester doesn’t sound too bummed:
"Its kind of exciting and stuff but its one of those days that kind of sucks. I think it’s one of the hardest days of the year to pitch."
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 1, 2016
In addition to his Eddy Julio Martinez BP video, John Arguello got a lot of great shots today:
A couple of exciting young players to watch in DJ Wilson and Gleyber Torres. pic.twitter.com/kVsIqG41ec
— John Arguello (@CubsDen) March 1, 2016
I almost didn't recognize @RobZastryzny_8 without the #flow pic.twitter.com/CvPcmacITO
— John Arguello (@CubsDen) March 1, 2016
Ian Happ stays late on the field for some extra BP and coaching pic.twitter.com/RvjiVBwpOR
— John Arguello (@CubsDen) March 1, 2016
John Lackey throwing some live BP:
#Cubs Lackey pic.twitter.com/J4JJvF8Nzm
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) March 1, 2016
I can’t tell who that is doing the impressive back flip in the first picture, and I’d really love to know (UPDATE: Mystery solved, thanks to Brittany Wood – it’s Travis Wood, uber athlete!):
So far, so good. #SpringTraining #ItAllStartsHere https://t.co/o694SuG27V pic.twitter.com/hOFOUNGAXg
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 1, 2016
Elsewhere, there were Spring Training games today! Old friend Darwin Barney was in action with the Blue Jays:
4 RBIs for Barney already? His first 2016 #SpringTraining game has been legen … wait for it … DARY.https://t.co/9NxREccSow
— MLB (@MLB) March 1, 2016
He actually added a fifth RBI before it was all said and done, driving in all of the Blue Jays’ runs. Marcus Stroman started for Toronto and did nasty things.
Good for Barney, by the way, who was really awesome defensively with the Cubs, especially in the otherwise forgettable 2012 season. And, hey, he actually posted a 121 wRC+ last year in the big leagues! (… over 30 plate appearances.)