Chicago's Inside Pitch

MESA, Ariz. _ It’s back at HoHoKam Park today for another televised Cubs game. This time, the Cubs duo of Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies has the call as the Cubs take on the Royals. The game in Vegas against the Rangers is on WGN radio. Just a programming note, as we like to say in the TV business, I’ll be a guest in the booth for Sunday’s game against the Athletics in Phoenix.

As far as today goes, center fielder Brett Jackson underwent an MRI on his right (throwing) shoulder Friday. The procedure, said the Cubs, revealed nothing more serious than inflammation, but the Cubs will let Jackson rest a week. He has been having trouble throwing the ball, but he said just before noon here today that it doesn’t hurt him to swing the bat.

GLENDALE, Ariz. _ Happy to be back in Arizona and with the Cubs. It’s a bonus day as I get to see the White Sox, too. Today’s Cubs-Sox game starts at 2 Chicago time, an hour earlier than normal. Over in Mesa, the Cubs will take on Team Japan. The Japanese media number in the triple digits at HoHoKam Park.

To quote the late, great Jerome Holtzman, “I arrived at HoHoKam Park in good time” to get caught up with a lot of folks. We’ll get to a few things here on this blog, including the lineup. Let’s do a few housekeeping notes first:

--Pitcher Starling Peralta was returned to the Cubs by the Arizona Diamondbacks today. The D’acks had claimed Peralta in the Rule 5 draft in December. At Class A Peoria last year, Peralta was 5-8 with a 3.44 ERA.

Now you can see why Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer went out and loaded up on starting pitching this off-season, even when everybody thought they were done when they signed Scott Baker and Scott Feldman last fall. In January, Epstein and Hoyer surprised a lot of people by signing Edwin Jackson to a four-year, $52 million contract.

Good thing, because on Sunday, the Cubs announced that No. 1 starter Matt Garza would start the season on the disabled list and Jeff Samardzija would start the season opener, April 1, at Pittsburgh. According to reports out of Mesa, Ariz., Garza experienced some tightness in his already injured left lat after playing catch Saturday. Manager Dale Sveum told the media Garza would be shut down for at least a week.

Thanks to the White Sox for passing this along today:
With the Baseball Prospectus/PECOTA projections coming out today (White Sox are projected for 77-85), below are recent projections since 2005.

2005: Prediction (80-82). Actual (99-63). Difference in wins (+19)

2006: Prediction (82-80). Actual (90-72). Difference in wins (+8)

2007: Prediction (73-89). Actual (72-90). Difference in wins (-1)

2008: Prediction (77-85). Actual (89-74*). Difference in wins (+12)

2009: Prediction (73-89). Actual (79-83). Difference in wins (+6)

2010: Prediction (79-83). Actual (88-74). Difference in wins (+9)

2011: Prediction (82-80). Actual (79-83). Difference in wins (-3)

2012: Prediction (78-84). Actual (85-77). Difference in wins (+7)

Had a great time Friday night out in Geneva at the Fifth Third Bank Ballpark, home of the Kane County Cougars, the Cubs’ new Class A affiliate. We’ll talk about that today on a special Saturday brunch blog as well as the nonroster additions to the spring-training roster. There was a lot of enthusiasm among fans at the dinner and the Q. and A. session with Cubs minor-league bosses Jason McLeod and Brandon Hyde along with Cougars manager Mark Johnson. During the media session before dinner, Johnson had the line of the night. I asked him about the young players coming up from Boise who would be playing in the big market of Chicago. Johnson said: “They don’t even know what a market is.”

The Cubs have a couple of things going these days, less than a week after the convention (a.k.a. Tony Campana Fest) ended. They reportedly have agreed with outfielder Scott Hairston on a two-year contract, and they’ve also announced their spring-training broadcast schedule, which features one Cubs game being available every game day. First things first. The Cubs aren’t commenting on Hairston because a physical exam is pending, but it looks like they’ve found a right-handed hitting platoon partner for Nate Schierholtz in right field. David DeJesus will play center. Hairston is the brother of former Cub Jerry Hairston Jr. and the son of former White Sox pinch hitter Jerry Hairston. He is the grandson of former White Sox Sam Hairston.

In advance of SoxFest this weekend at the Palmer House Hilton, manager Robin Ventura met with the media Wednesday and answered a variety of questions. We'll do some quick hits here and check back in tomorrow's paper for more details. -I heard from a lot of White Sox fans last season that wanted Adam Dunn and his 222 strikeouts dropped from No. 3 in the lineup to No. 5, with Alex Rios moving from 5 to 3. You might get your wish this season.

It’s a busy Saturday at the Cubs convention. We’ll get to the long of it for the paper tomorrow, but we’ll try to get to the short of it here. I’m currently sitting in on a session with manager Dale Sveum and the coaching staff. Sveum just said the Cubs should have the deal done today for pitcher Carlos Villanueva, whose signing was reported weeks ago. The Cubs will have to make a roster move to accommodate Villanueva on the 40-man. Wrigley Field and Sammy Sosa were two hot topics this morning. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said it’s probably time to revisit the idea of inviting the former Cubs slugger to events such as the Cubs convention.

Outside of bringing back starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd in late October and signing free-agent third baseman Jeff Keppinger to a three-year, $12 million contract in early December, it's been a fairly quiet off-season for the White Sox. There was some news on Friday, a week ahead of SoxFest. The White Sox agreed to terms on one-year contracts with second baseman Gordon Beckham ($2.925 million) and outfielder Alejandro De Aza ($2.075 million), avoiding arbitration with both players. There's no big surprise on either player, but let's focus on Beckham as spring training draws closer. "Excited that arbitration is out of the way," Beckham tweeted early Friday afternoon. "I love playing for (the White Sox) and can't wait to build on my progress from last year."

It’s a mere 27 days until Cubs pitchers and catchers report for spring training. We’ll get to a few things here in our first Cubs blog of the new year, including some info on this coming weekend’s somewhat new-look Cubs convention. First, one of my favorite spring-training features to do over the past 15 years has been to talk to some of the nonroster invitees to camp. I’ve found that almost all of them, especially the older guys trying to hang on for one more shot, have pretty good stories to tell, with a lot of pathos.