Workouts are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., following the morning briefing by manager Ron Gardenhire.

In reality, there's plenty of action way before that.

Some players are in the batting cages as early as 7:30 a.m. Today, Aaron Hicks was took swings while taking instruction from Rod Carew and Tony Oliva. Josh Willingham worked with Joe Vavra. Darin Mastroianni worked on swing mechanics with Tom Brunansky as Alex Presley looked on.

Then Miguel Sano walked by in full sweat. He was on the small field next to the batting cage, taking grounders before the workout. His right elbow has been a talking point ever since he was shut down early in winter ball with a UCL strain, but he said this morning that it feels good and he's not limited at all by it.

All this happened before 8:15 a.m.

The entire squad is pretty much here, one day before the first full-team workout. They are just taking the field now for stretching, during another glorious morning here in sunny S.W. Florida. Come down and join us!

By the way, I ran into Gophers baseball coach John Anderson last night after dinner. I've interviewed him on the radio a couple times but had never met him in person. The Gophers are in Fort Myers this weekend to play Creighton in a three-game series at City of Palms Park, located near downtown Fort Myers.

Will check in this afternoon with updates.