Weekend Quick Hits: Piniella's Future, Roster Cuts, Injury Updates, and More

• Today the Cubs made the first roster cuts of the spring, trimming 9 off the roster. David Patton (sent to AA) and Mitch Atkins, who was sent to AAA, are among the most notable guys cut from camp. Brett Jackson, Josh Vitters, Steve Clevenger, Blake Lalli, Matt Camp, Jeff Kennard, and Vince Perkins were sent to minor league camp.
• Aramis Ramirez was scratched from yesterday's lineup and sat out again today against the Angels. Rami has a sore right tricep, but he is expected to resume throwing in the next few days.
• Derrek Lee is also still day-to-day after fouling a ball off his foot last Thursday. Lee should be back in the lineup on Tuesday.
• Xavier Nady is expected to start playing outfield the last 10 days of Spring Training. He may not be able to throw at 100% until mid-season.
• It sounds like there are 2 spots left on the Cubs bench. Kevin Millar and Chad Tracy are competing for one of the spots, while Sam Fuld, Brad Snyder, Tyler Colvin, and Jim Adduci are in the mix for the other. Micah Hoffpauir's future is a mystery at this point.
• Kosuke Fukudome's hitting coach is now in Arizona. He is expected to work closely with Rudy Jaramillo in coaching Kosuke this season.
• Ted Lilly threw off the mound again today, and the Chicago Tribune reports that he is ahead of schedule.
• The Cubs fifth starters competition is "still open". Sean Marshall has pitched the best of the four candidates so far, but the lefty is was valuable to the Cubs' bullpen last season.
• Piniella expects the rotation to be decided by March 22 according to Carrie Muskat.
• Angel Guzman will meet with Dr. Andrews tomorrow to get a second opinion on his shoulder tear.
• Tyler Colvin is leading the majors with his .565 Spring Training batting average.
• The Cubs have been committing a lot of errors so far this spring. Many of the miscues were by guys who won't be on the big league roster, but you still don't want to see sloppy defense.
• Crane Kenney has talked openly about the future of Lou Piniella with the Cubs. Kenney hinted that if Lou wants to keep managing, then he'll stick around. However, as Bruce Miles points out, Jim Hendry is in charge of baseball operations not Crane.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted!