Piniella: Roberts trade rumors 'unsettling' to kids

MESA, Ariz. -- The Baltimore Orioles have dispatched scout Bruce Kison to Arizona to join the team's other scouts watching Cubs major-leaguers and minor-leaguers.

As far as the Cubs are concerned, that means absolutely nothing.

Cubs people reiterated Sunday there is no deal on the table concerning Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts. The Cubs say they have no idea what the Orioles' timetable is for evaluating Cubs prospects.

If anything gets done -- and it's quite possible Roberts will open the season with the Orioles -- it probably won't get done until next week.

That doesn't mean the constant rumors aren't taking a toll.

"The one thing here with our camp with these trade rumors all the time, it's been a little unsettling for a lot of these kids here," manager Lou Piniella said. "It's hard enough. It's not easy for them to come here and read their names all the time. It's not the easiest thing in the world for these kids."

Roster battles: Lou Piniella has expressed admiration for nonroster man Micah Hoffpauir, who went 0-for-4 in Sunday's 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

For the spring, Hoffpauir leads the team this spring with 18 hits in 41 at-bats for a .439 average.

"We've been looking for a left-hand bat that can hit a little bit," Piniella said. "We might just have him in this camp. He's had a real nice spring. He's looking for a spot. We'll see."

Hoffpauir is a first baseman, but he played right field Sunday. He might have been up last year, but a knee injury at Class AAA Iowa ended his season after 82 games.

"From the get-go, I came in and decided what I want to do is just have fun and hope for the best and make an impression that they'll take a look at, and hopefully good things will happen," said the 28-year-old Hoffpauir, a Cubs farmhand since 2002.

On the other end of the spectrum is shortstop Ronny Cedeno. Lou Piniella said Cedeno no longer will play any center field. A hamstring injury has kept Cedeno out of action the last few days.

"It's not helping him," Piniella said.

Mike Fontenot may be moving ahead of Cedeno. He played a flawless shortstop Sunday and hit an opposite-field homer to left.

Cintron back: Infielder Alex Cintron was feeling lucky Sunday in the wake of a scary scene Friday, when he was hit on the right side of his face by a foul ball off the bat of teammate Mark DeRosa.

Cintron was standing in the on-deck circle at the time.

"I feel much better," Cintron said. "Yesterday I had a headache and was dizzy a little bit, but not bad. I'm really lucky the ball didn't hit me in the (upper) part of my face."

The ball caught Cintron on the cheek, below the bone. The only thing he worried about were his teeth.

"That's the first thing I did was spit, and there was nothing coming out, just blood," he said.

Cintron took grounders Sunday and said he's ready to play.