- In Minnesota, newly acquired outfielder Carlos Gomez has won the center field job and will run down balls alongside Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer.

- In Florida, the Marlins will trust Jorge Cantu to man third base.  He had some original training during the offseason (hat tip to David Pinto).

- There's the NY Mets rotation for the first two weeks of the season (Bill James projections in parenthesis)

Johan Santana (16-8, 3.00 ERA)
Pedro Martinez (10-4, 2.88)
Oliver Perez (9-12, 4.69)
John Maine (12-11, 4.05)

- Ryan Dempster and Jason Marquis will be part of the Chicago Cubs rotation and Jon Lieber will appear out of the bullpen to start the 2008 season.  Kerry Wood will be the new closer.

- Brandon Inge might open the season in center field for the Detroit Tigers, while Curtis Granderson is on the shelf.

- LHP Craig Breslow now appears to take the place of Aaron Fultz in the Cleveland Indians bullpen, with the news that the club will designate the lefty for assignment.

- Jo-Jo Reyes might be coming back in the big leagues sooner than expected with the news that John Smoltz will probably begin the season on the DL with a sore shoulder.  Jeff Bennett is another candidate for the job.

In the article, it also mentioned four settled piece of the bullpen:

The Braves have four bullpen certainties — closer Rafael Soriano, setup men Peter Moylan and Manny Acosta, left-hander Will Ohman— and four out-of-options relievers: Blaine Boyer, Chris Resop, Tyler Yates and lefty Royce Ring.

Bennett also is prominent in the candidate mix as a reliever/spot-starter.

- LHP Cliff Lee appears to have won the fifth spot of the rotation in Cleveland.

- Outfielder Shannon Stewart will be the left fielder facing left-handed pitching in Toronto, with Matt Stairs hacking against righties.

- Gerald Laird is expected to be the starting catcher in Texas, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia going back to AAA to get regular playing time.

- RHP John Patterson, just released by the Nationals, is expected to sign with the Texas Rangers.

"It's no-risk for a guy who has had success in the big leagues," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "We want to bring him in, get him healthy and send him [to Triple-A]."

- Former KC Royals Mike Sweeney has 'made the cut' and will be on the Opening Day roster of the Oakland Athletics.

Mike Sweeney seemed to be a lock for Opening Night after batting .400 this spring and demonstrating full health, but he said he never thought it was a sure thing until he was told today after the team's Tokyo Dome workout.

"It's exciting," he said. "Now I'm part of the team, and it's a matter of helping the team. Bob (Geren, the A's manager) made it clear he doesn't know what kind of playing time I'll get out of the gate, but I told him whatever role I have, I'll be the best teammate I can be."

- Closer Brad Lidge was well on his way to make the 25-man roster for the start of the season, but no...

Lidge was backdated to March 21, meaning he is eligible to be activated on April 5, which means he will miss at least the first five games of the regular season.

Lidge had hoped to be ready after appearing in his second Minor League game on Sunday. He had three more appearances scheduled this week.

He had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on April 25, 2007.