The Cubs play their first spring training game of the year tomorrow! It continues to rain in Arizona, but the forecast for Saturday's Cactus League opener looks good, as the Cubs will host the Brewers in Mesa at Sloan Park. Anyway, here are your latest updates from Cubs spring training.
First, Javier Baez is officially off the market! The star infielder for the Cubs shared a wedding photo on social media Friday. He proposed to his longtime girlfriend Irmarie Marquez in April 2018. The wedding took place on Jan. 26.
Hmm, wonder if they also celebrated the anniversary of the Bears winning Super Bowl 20? Anyway, congrats! There were some nervous Cubs fans earlier in the week wondering about Ben Zobrist. He was excused because of a personal reason, but he finally arrived to Cubs camp on Friday.
Zobrist, 37, is in the final year of his contract with the Cubs and was the subject of some trade speculation this offseason. He is back and assured everyone that everything is OK, but it also seems like Zobrist might retire after the 2019 season. https://www.sportsmockery.com/2019/02/is-ben-zobrist-going-to-retire-after-2019/ If it is his last year, Zobrist wants to be as good of a leader as he can be.
And it turns out the Cubs made it a point in the offseason to really focus on the leadership coming inside the clubhouse.
Other than Zobrist arriving in Mesa, the other bit of news on Friday was the announcement of a bunch of coaching changes in the minors for the Cubs.
Why all those changes at once? Well, Mark Johnson was promoted to Tim Cossins position and he left the Cubs this offseason to join Brandon Hyde's coaching staff with the Orioles after Hyde was hired as Baltimore's new manager.
And last but not least, the Cubs are still saying they're sticking with Victor Caratini as the backup catcher...
...even though they should be trying really hard to sign Martin Maldonado because he'd be a huge upgrade and cost basically nothing! https://www.sportsmockery.com/2019/02/martin-maldonado-is-begging-to-get-signed-cough-cubs-cough/ Almost forgot, there's a new top-30 Cubs prospects list! https://www.sportsmockery.com/2019/02/several-new-faces-in-updated-top-30-cubs-prospects-list/
