Spring-training primer
Trying to get about a million things done here one day before leaving for Mesa and spring training. If all goes well, I’ll hit Fitch Park by about 1 tomorrow Mountain time, pick up my car and credential and see who’s around. From what I hear, a lot of players, including position players, have been working out in Mesa. Jim Hendry and Lou will meet with us formally for the first time Wednesday. I’ll also take a camera with me. Don’t count on any Pulitzer stuff, but I’ll try to put a few images of spring up here on the blog and with my stories for the paper and Web site.
We may find out this week whether Ryan Theriot has won his arbitration case. It’ll be fun interviewing The Riot about that, win or lose.
Here’s the roster of Cubs players who will be in spring training:
Pitchers: Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad, Ryan Dempster, Rafael Dolis, John Gaub, Tom Gorzelanny, John Grabow, Jeff Gray, Angel Guzman, Ted Lilly, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, Marcos Mateo, Mike Parisi, Blake Parker, David Patton, Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Silva, Jeff Stevens, Randy Wells, Carlos Zambrano
Catchers: Welington Castillo, Koyie Hill, Geovany Soto
Infielders: Jeff Baker, Andres Blanco, Mike Fontenot, Micah Hoffpauir, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Theriot
Outfielders: James Adduci, Marlon Byrd, Tyler Colvin, Kosuke Fukudome, Sam Fuld, Xavier Nady, Alfonso Soriano
Nonroster invitees
Pitchers: Andrew Cashner, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, Jeff Kennard, J.R. Mathes, Vince Perkins, James Russell
Catchers: Robinson Chirinos, Steve Clevenger, Chris Robinson
Infielders: Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro, Blake Lalli, Kevin Millar, Chad Tracy, Josh Vitters
Outfielders: Matt Camp, Brett Jackson, Bryan LaHair, Bobby Scales, Brad Snyder
Obvious player to watch: Starlin Castro
Dark-horse candidates to watch: Darwin Barney, Blake Parker
Pitching prospect to watch: Andrew Cashner
Annual Rule 5 pick: Mike Parisi
Big Number: 12. The Cubs have 21 nonroster men in camp. They like to point out that 12 of those 21 were either drafted by or signed originally by the Cubs. The last four No. 1 picks will be there: Brett Jackson, Andrew Cashner, Josh Vitters and Tyler Colvin. It’ll also be interesting to see such pitchers as Casey Coleman, John Gaub and Thomas Diamond
Medical watch: Ted Lilly (shoulder rehab); Aramis Ramirez (shoulder rehab), Alfonso Soriano (knee rehab)
Position battles: Nos. 4 and 5 starters, involving Sean Marshall, Tom Gorzelanny, Carlos Silva and Jeff Samardzija. Also, keep an eye on the battle for reserve spots, among Micah Hoffpauir, Kevin Millar, Chad Tracy and Bryan LaHair.
Big question: Can Starlin Castro break with the team and push Theriot to second base? From what GM Jim Hendry says, that’s doubtful, but I suspect we’ll see Castro up with the big club before 2010 is over.
As always, we shall see.
Keep it tuned here. I’m also on Facebook now, so check that out. Talk with you throughout.
wins the SS job in spring training(I don't think this is likely), and Theriot, Baker, and Fontenot all play well? Who would be the odd man out? Would the Cubs go with a second base platoon of Fontenot and Theriot? I am pretty sure Blanco is out of options. Would he be the man to go, and Theriot become utility middle man?
I'd say that regardless of who platoons at 2B, Baker has to make the team. We can't go into a second consecutive season with Fontenot as the primary backup plan at 3B, if Ramirez misses significant time to injury. I can't watch that again. Besides, I like Baker's bat!
Cubs management is worse than I thought...there is NO reason he should be with the big league team opening day.
You are talking about Castro, right? That is my opinion as well, but by inviting him to spring training, he could force his way on the team.
Agree, he could "force" his way on to the team, but that would be a mistake. Putting ANY stock into spring training numbers is a mistake.
A 19 year old with a .342 OBP and a sub .400 SLG in A/AA hasn't earned a big league roster spot.
As Jim Hendry looks for one more bullpen arm, I'd like to suggest one to go after:
John Smoltz.
Character. Possible spot starter. Mentor. And still enough in the tank to give us 70 quality innings.
Add that Maddux is now part of the Executive Staff, I'd think Smoltz would be interested.
Lemme know your thoughts...
Smoltz continues to reiterate that he wants to start for whomever he signs. He's not interested in being a reliever.
I guarantee if Smoltz signed, he would end up in the rotation, at least until May. If he pitched well, there is no way they pull him out.
Whether you add a starter or reliever, it basically accomplishes the same thing. Your pitching is deeper, and whoever would have filled that starting slot, can go to the pen.
Smoltz was up and down last season with the Red Sox and Cardinals, but the differential between his high ERA (6.35) and FIP (3.87) is striking. He also had a K/9 of almost 9 and a K/BB of a little over 4. If he's healthy and willing to sign for around $1 million with some incentives, I think Hendry should at least look into it. Most important, he could be closer insurance for Carlos Marmol. And, from an intangibles perspective, he'd be a great clubhouse guy.
Bruce, could you see Hendry making a run at Smoltz?
Bruce,
A couple of quick questions? In your mind, who are the front runners for the 2 rotation spots, and who do you see in the pen? And do you think the Boras firing might make a change in Cubs interest/lack there of in Lopez? Thanks
How things play out in spring will tell us about the rotation. How is Samardzija's command of his repertoire? Will Marshall make a strong enough case or will Lou want that second lefty in the pen? I think they'll go by spring performance and how they feel each guy could help them best. It's one of those you can't really answer right now. If I had to handicap it at this point, I'd say Gorzelanny and Silva probably would have the inside track on starting, but nobody's even thrown a warmup pitch yet in a formal spring workout.
On Lopez, Hendry has said time and again that he is not signing another position player. Boras is Xavier Nady's agent, and the Cubs work well with Boras. So I don't see that changing anything. The Cubs have shown little to no interest in Lopez.
I honestly think the Cubs have at least 3 better candidates for the rotation than Silva and those are Gorzelanny, Samardzija, and Marshall, and maybe some other guys. I see him as the long man/mop up role. If the Cubs are really going to use Silva in the rotation, we are in worse shape than I thought.
My pen would look like this.
Marmol, Grabow, Marshall(I might try to audition him as a starter, depending upon how Gaub looks, you might get a good RH set up man for Marshall, if he looks good as a starter in the spring). Guzman, Caridad, Silva as long man, and whoever is best of Stevens, Mateo, Atkins, Gray and Patton. I would guess Gray or Stevens would get the nod.
I think, out of respect for his status as an major league veteran, Silva will be offered every opportunity to compete for the rotation. But, unless Carlos finds a way to miraculously resurrect his sinker, he'll wind up a mop up guy in the bullpen who maybe gets the odd start or two but also sees time on the DL. See: Jon Lieber in 2008.
Enjoy PHX! Hopefully you'll get lucky and find yourself between Chairman Jerry and the mayor of Mesa....that would be a fun convo to listen to.
Do you have any restaurants you visit every year? I feel like I have to stop by Don & Charlie's once every spring and usually run into Ronnie Santo, Bob Uecker or someone like that.
I should have listed those in the blog, but here are mine:
--Vito's at Lindsey and McKellips in Mesa. Family-owned Italian place with great pizza that's as good as we get in Chicago (that's important) and excellent pasta at good prices.
--The Blue Adobe on Country Club just off of the center of Mesa. Food of New Mexico, which means just a slightly different taste than traditional Mexican.
--Don and Charlie's is a great touristy place. You will see a lot of celebs there.
--Z Tejas in downtown Tempe. There's one on Mill (the main drag) and one in the mall.
--Carlsbad up on Hayden in Scottsdale. New Mexican food.
--Oregano's also has great pizza. One in Mesa near Dobson and Southern and another in Scottsdale. The waits can be long.
--For breakfast, try T.C. Eggington's near U.S. 60 and Alma School Road in Mesa. You might see Billy Williams and his wife enjoying breakfast there.
It is a few minutes from Mesa, but Pizza Bianco downtown is hands down the best pizza in the world. Small place, 2 hour wait but the best meal of my life.
Been there a couple times and I thought it was pretty overrated. It's no better than the Grimaldi's or Nello's in Old Town Scottsdale. It was by no means bad pizza, but nothing that special. It is a popular place to go and spend a few hours, though.
Being from Chicago, I'm pretty fussy about my pizza. A hundred neighborhood carry-out joints in Chicago are as good if not better than Bianco's. Not that Bianco's is bad, but I also thought it was highly overrated.
Is good ole Crane Kenney down there yet Bruce? If you see him, please ask for his opinion on the "Cubs tax" and Jerry Reinsdorf's opposition. For as much as I dislike Crane's still being involved with the team, he often likes to join in the verbal fireworks between Cubs and Sox management. Lou and Hendry never say anything, but Crane may give you some material, maybe remind everyone who pays for US Cellular Field.
And who paid $90M for the Sox / Dodgers new facility (AZ tax payers), or who is on the hook (not Jerry) for $24M in remaining tax dollars that were used to build the Sox facility in Tuscon before they left the tax payers high and dry.
At least the "Cubs tax" is generated by a tax on tickets to baseball games and not solely hotels - so those who choose to attend the games are the ones that would be funding a new stadium, not anyone who stays in a hotel in Maricopa county.
It would be funny if Cubs fans boycotted games @ Camalback Ranch so Jerry could enjoy some peace and quite that day instead of having all the rowdy Cubs fans invading his park and spending money at his concession stands.
Can you find out where they would start him in the minors? I've seen AAA mentioned somewhere, and don't see why they'd basically skip him over AA. Didn't get much time there last season.
That's a good point. At Iowa, they may want him to work with Sandberg. I'll try to get a handle on that one.
If you could capture the smell of freshly cut grass and put it in a blog it would be appreciated.
Maybe we'll get an app for that!
...always a good sign when baseball rolls around again.