Spring Has Sprung

• The Bucs lost their spring opener 7-1 to the Blue Jays. Not much to be taken from the game except that it's windy in Florida and that Clint Hurdle is looking at the fringe guys early on, with just four starters in the lineup. The home opener is a rematch tomorrow at McKechnie Field with Erik Bedard getting the ball.
• The news on AJ Burnett post-surgery is that he's expected to miss 8-12 weeks. So until mid-May or beyond, the Pirate staff will be pretty similar to last year's, with Bedard swapped for Paul Maholm and Brad Lincoln looking like the sixth man. It does appear that Charlie Morton is on track to join the rotation out of camp, so that's a plus.
• The Bucs renewed/agreed to contracts with 25 players who have under three years of service time and are on the 40-man roster. They are position players Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Chase d'Arnaud, Matt Hague, Josh Harrison, Jody Mercer, Yamaico Navarro, Gustavo Nunez, Gorkys Hernandez, Starling Marte, Alex Presley and Mike McKenry, in addition to pitchers Jared Hughes, Chris Leroux, Brad Lincoln, Jeff Locke, Daniel McCutchen, James McDonald, Kyle McPherson, Bryan Morris, Daniel Moskos, Rudy Owens, Tony Watson, Duke Welker and Justin Wilson.They did it a week before the March 11th deadline, which probably tells us that extensions for McCutch and The Kid are on the back burner.
• Six Bucco spring games will be broadcast on TV this year. Four will air on Root Sports: Saturday, March 10th vs Minnesota (1:05 PM), Wednesday, March 21st vs Boston (1:05 PM), Saturday, March 24th vs Houston (1:05 PM) and Monday, March 26th vs Baltimore (7:05 PM). The MLB Network will show the other two: Friday, March 9th at Boston (7 PM) and Tuesday, March 27th at Philadelphia (1 PM). Several other games will be available on MLB.TV, on delay from the MLB Network, or on the radio from KDKA-FM 93.7.
• The Bucs open the season at home on Thursday, April 5th against the Phillies.