Claudio Vargas to start Wednesday’s Cactus League opener

And no, this does NOT mean he is the Dodgers’ opening-day starter. He’ll be followed against the Cubs by Eric Milton, Ramon Troncoso, Stephen Randolph, Nick DeBarr and Carmen Cali. Jeff Samardzija will start for the Cubs. Randy Wolf will start on Thursday against the Giants, followed by Jeff Weaver, Eric Stults, Jonathan Broxton, Tanyon Sturtze, Edgar Martinez and Scott Strickland. … By the way, Joe Torre said this morning that Blake DeWitt will get a lot of action at SS in Cactus League play, but it might not happen for a while because he’ll be playing 2B until they are ready to put Orlando Hudson into some games at 2B. So while DeWitt’s opening for a spot on the opening-day roster would seem to be closing quickly, it isn’t all the way closed just yet.