A bunch of pitchers just finished long toss on Field 5 here. The first media blitz of spring was directed at Sidney Ponson. He said that the heaviest he’s ever been was 2003 when he won 17 games. He weighed 269 then. One of my fellow hacks agreed with me that Sir Sid looks around 245 today. And, seriously, if Sir Sid goes David Wells on the league this year will anyone care how much he weighs?

 Joe Nathan is fretting about being assigned Brad Radke’s old clubhouse stall. He wants it known that he did not demand the primo location - right next the entrance to the kitchen and coaches quarters. Mike Redmond couldn’t resist: “I thought we were going to glass that thing off,” he joked.

Justin Morneau arrived this morning, wearing yet another Vancouver Canucks t-shirt (does it ever end?). He headed for the batting cage with Lew Ford, Michael Cuddyer and others. Hitting coach Joe Vavra personally opened several boxes of baseballs just to throw B.P. to them.

Chatted with Dutch lefthander Alexander Smit, who’s in his first major league camp. He spent the morning sitting in front of his stall, watching everything and everyone with that wide-eyed look on his face. I made a point to visit with him because I like soccer and he roots for PSV Eindhoven, where American DaMarcus Beasley played last year.

It’s still not warm here folks. The locals were in coats, scarves and furry boots last night. My nose is running, and we can’t open the press box shutters because of a biting wind. But the first workout is tomorrow, and I can’t wait.

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