Alfonso Soriano is still hurt. Maybe. Maybe not:

"I say in my mind I'm 80 percent because I'm not doing anything like playing the field, just more like running and doing some exercises for my knee," he said. "The work that I do in the Dominican is very hard for me. I hope that my knee feels better than I think because I think it's like 85, 80 percent. Maybe when I test it, it's 100 percent.

"I'm just running 75-80 percent, and I don't feel anything at all. When I start running 100 percent, I'm going to know how I feel."

Yeah, no one else knows what this means either.

Meanwhile Ted Lilly is on the Mark Prior regiment. No one seems to know when he's going to pitch again.

The answer seems to be: 3 to 4 weeks after he first takes the mound in a spring training game.

Or extended spring training game.

Or minor league rehab assignment.

While the Cubs on the field are pretty much the same as last year (well, 85% of the same in left field), front office changes continue to be made:

The Cubs today announced two front office hires for newly created positions within the organization. Jahaan Blake has been hired as the club's director of fan experiences and Kevin Saghy has been named the club's public relations and marketing specialist.

...

Blake will be responsible for creating and maintaining an outstanding fan experience for visitors to Wrigley Field and for those interacting with the Chicago Cubs through all fan forums. She will also oversee a team of proactive fan service representatives responsible for monitoring the Wrigley Field experience before, during and after games and responding to fan requests for information or suggestions.

...

With the Cubs, Saghy will be responsible for monitoring and creating exposure for the marketing, community affairs and additional business efforts of the Cubs. He will work closely with the organization's corporate and community partners to enhance awareness of the Cubs brand, the partners' brands and their collaborative efforts.

So, the Cubs have hired a person to take care of the Cubs as a brand and another person to take care of the fans in the stands.

The first hire sounds like a great business decision. The second sounds like a euphemism for "Well, the game on the field sucks, but how can I help you have more fun in the ballpark?"

Yeah, there are plenty of Cub fans who are satisfied with a great day in the sun, and one supposes hiring a person to cater to such mopes isn't the worst thing in the world. After all, these are the fans the buy tickets no matter what. Giving them a baby sitter makes a good deal of sense, especially given that the Ricketts just might have to earn some trust.

But isn't the best way to give the fans a satisfying day simply to win?

Some advice to the NHL and Garry Bettman: Cancel your stupid all star game and just do this every few years.

As pitchers and catchers report, Ivy Chat returns from the darkness to discuss the issues of the day.

- Bruce Miles is in first with the Cubs spring training roster. Expect Starlin Castro to move up in his paragraphs going forward.

- Miles' fellow Daily Heralder Barry Rozner was on the radio today blasting Tom Ricketts for not making a bigger splash in the off season in terms of adding talent. What Barry refused to say is where on the roster Barry thinks the Cubs should have cut and who Barry thinks the Cubs should have added. Unless he thinks that benching someone who plays left, right, first, third or catcher makes sense, there was really not much out there to make the Cubs better at center, second or short.

- Waxpaperbeercup went off on the Cubs for grossing up ticket prices by the amount of the City of Chicago Amusement tax in 2010 instead of just including the tax in the face value of the ticket. Here's an unused ticket stub from last year. Weren't the Cubs already doing this, or does he mean that the same ticket today would cost $38.75?

- Let me see if I understand this: I can use my ATM card with a Visa logo on it anywhere in the world to buy a TV set and have the money debited almost instantly from my checking account. But the Illinois primary system can't determine who is the Republican nominee for governor for over two weeks after the election? Time to completely modernize our voting system.

- Ryan Theriot looks like he is going to press to arbitration and force Jim Hendry to actually hold a hearing. Sounds like Ryan isn't scared of what Hendry will have to say, either because Hendry doesn't have many bad things to say or because Hendry won't be around as long as Theriot will.

- And finally, there's still a chance the Cubs will move to Florida and vacate Arizona. It seems The King of Corporate Wellfare, Jerry Reinsdorf, is leading the objection to having ticket prices for the White Sox (and all other Cactus League teams) raised by $1 to help pay for the Cubs to build a new stadium. Let this page be one that hopes the Cubs run and dont walk to Naples. No, it's not because teams that play in Florida win a lot of World Series (although that doesn't hurt) It's because no such decision, short of ripping down Wrigley Field, would announce to Cub fans that the Ricketts are really changing the way the Cubs operate.

The franchise needs big, bold changes. Naples would be a big, bold change.

Do people really not know what Burn Notice is?