The active roster on the Cubs website shows 27 players this morning. There are 13 position players, so those slots have all been completed. There are 14 pitchers, so two of the currently listed hurlers will not make the trip north. On the bubble, I think, would be David Patton (who must make the team or be offered back to the Rockies or waived), Jeff Samardzija, Angel Guzman (out of options) and Chad Gaudin.
What I would like to see is Gaudin traded (good luck, given his poor spring) and Samardzija sent to Iowa to be stretched out to start, with Patton and Guzman making the team. Patton is expected to throw today. Samardzija and Guzman both pitched yesterday, both reasonably well (the runs off them were as a result of Kosuke Fukudome's misplay in CF). Presumably, we will see Kevin Gregg today, as he hasn't pitched in a major league game in a week.
The Angels, who have the best record in either the Cactus or Grapefruit League at 23-6, will send Nick Adenhart, one of their top young pitchers, to face the Cubs today and Brian Fuentes, Scot Shields and Kevin Jepsen will also see action. The Cubs counter with Sean Marshall, who is making his final spring start; the rest of the week will see Carlos Zambrano tomorrow, Ryan Dempster on Thursday, and then Ted Lilly and Rich Harden in New York, before Z starts Monday on Opening Day. (Yes, it's really almost here!)
The Cubs' (and major league) spring training attendance record should fall today; the record of 193,993 was set in 2005 and today's crowd needs to be at least 7,987 to break the mark. Obviously, the larger number of dates this year is the reason for the new record; the average attendance record of 12,125 is in no danger (2009 average: 10,942). Thanks to HoHoKam PA announcer Tim Sheridan for the attendance info, from his site Boys of Spring.
Today's game is available on broadcasts with the Angels announcers, which means we get to hear the wackiness of Rex Hudler again. It's on KLAA radio in the Los Angeles area and on FSN West. The FSN West telecast will also be picked up by MLB Network nationally. You can find these also at the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Discuss amongst yourselves.