Cubs Bunting Tournament 3rd round results; Maholm out with flu; Soto still out with groin injury

The Cubs held the third round of their bunting tournament today.  Advancing were:  Joe Mather, Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro, Ian Stewart, Travis Wood, Jeff Samardzija, Randy Wells, and Andy Sonnanstine.  Eliminated were:  Edgar Gonzalez, Bobby Scales, Jaramillo, Matt Tolbert, Esmailin Caridad, James Russell, Chris Volstad, and Manny Corpas.  The tournament is expected to last through mid-March.

Starlin Castro in today's 3rd round of the bunting tournament (photo from Chicago Cubs)

Jeff Samardzija's bunt wins over James Russell in the bunting tournament today (photo from Chicago Cubs)

In other Cubs news, Cubs beat reporter Carrie Muskat tweeted, "Paul Maholm has been MIA because of flu. He's day to day. #Cubs"  Hopefully Maholm will be back to spring training soon.

Manager Dale Sveum is apparently an early riser (usually leaving his home early enough to arrive at the ballpark by 4:45am and start working out at 5:00am).  He's followed this routine since he's been a coach.  “As a manager I’m getting here a little earlier,” he said. “I used to start working out around 5:30 or something.”

Catcher Geovany Soto sat out again today due to his groin injury, but Sveum said, "It’s not that big of a deal, just a very minor thing. But this time of spring you don’t want to mess with that.”