Countdown to Cactus League Baseball: 2 Days

Chicago Cubs baseball will be on the air on Sunday! David Kaplan starts it off with Cubs Insider at 1:00, Judd Sirott has Cubs Central Pregame at 1:30 and Pat and Keith will have the call at 2:05.

Mike Quade has announced his starting lineups and batting orders for the first three Spring Training games.

Sunday VS Oakland
Kosuke, RF
Starlin Castro, SS
Marlon Byrd, CF
Aramis Ramirez, 3B
Carlos Pena, 1B
Alfonso Soriano, LF
Geovany Soto, C
Blake DeWitt, 2B
Carlos Zambrano, P
Also playing Sunday: Darwin Barney (SS), Fernando Perez (CF), Bryan LaHair (1B), Tyler Colvin (RF), Brett Jackson (LF), Jeff Baker (2B), Josh Vitters (3B). The starters are expected to play five innings.

Monday VS Brewers
Reed Johnson, CF
Darwin Barney, SS
Tyler Colvin, RF
Alfonso Soriano, LF
Caros Pena, 1B
Jeff Baker, 2B
Marquez Smith, 3B
Koyie Hill, C
Randy Wells, P

Tuesday VS Giants
Kosuke, RF
Starlin Castro, SS
Marlon Byrd, CF
Aramis Ramirez, 3B
Geovany Soto, C
Blake DeWitt, 2B
Reed Johnson, LF
Bryan LaHair, 1B
Ryan Dempster, P

Other Updates

• The Cubs will moved down to HoHoKam Park after today's workout. They will practice there tomorrow.
• Angel Guzman will face hitters in a live BP session next Wednesday.
• Today would have been Ron Santo's 71st birthday.
• Mike Quade likes Kosuke in the lead-off spot.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted on Everything Cubs as always!

40 Players at Fitch Park?

As Jim Hendry reported yesterday, the Cubs already have 40 guys (major and minor leaguers) in spring camp and the required date for pitchers and catchers has yet to come! Workouts for the hurlers and receivers officially get underway next Thursday.

Carlos Zambrano, Tyler Colvin, John Grabow, Randy Wells, Sam Fuld, and Kevin Millar are some of the guys that have reported a week early to Mesa, Arizona, where it's in the 60s and 70s and sunny!

Time for some Quick Hits:

• Theriot and Kosuke will be 1 and 2 in the Cubs batting order, but which one of the two will hit first is still up in the air.
• Former Cubs short stop Nomar Garciapara is looking for a TV job.
• Cubs P.A. guy Tim Sheldon writes an amazing blog from Spring Training each year. He's started 2010 off with the pictures of the Cubs that are already in camp! Be sure to click the link and check out the pics and posts from yesterday and today!
• Wrigley Field will host Elton John, Billy Joel, and Dave Matthews this summer.
• Cubs.com reports that the Cubs are expecting Rudy Jaramillo to help get the hitters back on track.
• Cubbies Crib has posted some nice prospect videos.

We'll have our full "Spring Training Preview" series started this weekend!