As the year's first full weekend of baseball gets underway, take a look at the latest on the Cubs' efforts to rehabilitate Chicago's venerable Wrigley Field. Hal Dardick of the Chicago Tribune writes that, with the club and the city nearing a deal, the owners of the famous Wrigleyville rooftops are preparing to fight any moves that would obstruct their view. On to some roster shuffling notes:
- The Brewers have some difficult roster decisions coming up, writes Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. With Corey Hart already out, the club needs to address injuries to Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez. While the club is hopeful that Braun will miss little (if any) time due to his neck spasms, Ramirez's knee sprain is concerning and could result in a DL stint. With a full 40-man roster, however, Milwaukee is short on choices. Potential reserve infielders Taylor Green and Jeff Bianchi are on the roster but are also on the DL, leaving prospect Scooter Gennett as the only apparent infield option on the current 40-man.
- The Diamondbacks added shortstops Cliff Pennington, Didi Gregorius, and Nick Ahmed this offseason, and already had prospect Chris Owings in place at the position, writes Nick Piecoro of AZCentral Sports. With Gregorius returning soon from an elbow strain, the club faces a complicated choice in allocating playing time among the players at the big league and upper minor league levels.
- Another injury-related roster crunch is playing out in Miami, where the Marlins are struggling to replace multiple injured first basemen (most recently, Casey Kotchman). Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald explains that, without any healthy replacements on the 40-man roster, the club is essentially holding tryouts among its other position players. The results reportedly included Chris Coghlan asking whether he could use his outfielder's glove and Miguel Olivo trotting out with his catcher's mitt on.
