2/24 Sveum: “We’re here to try to win the World Series”

In his first address to the full squad, manager Dale Sveum repeated his message that this is not a rebuilding year for the Cubs but the goal is to win it all.

Sveum was one of the speakers before Friday’s first full squad workout at Fitch Park. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, plus Theo Epstein, president of baseball operations, and general manager Jed Hoyer also talked to the players.

“I just let them know that, look, you’ve got a veteran catcher behind the plate, a guy who won the MVP in Triple-A playing first, a guy who did a nice job — [Darwin] Barney — at second base,” Sveum said. “[We've got] a guy who had over 300 hits in his first two years in the big leagues [at short], a guy who hit 20 something plus home runs a couple years ago in Colorado at third, an All-Star in center field, a guy with 340 home runs in left field and a really nice leadoff-type professional player playing right field.

“[Plus] obviously the pitching staff with [Ryan Dempster], [Matt] Garza, [Paul] Maholm, [Randy] Wells, [Travis] Wood and you go on and on with the bullpen and [Carlos] Marmol and [Kerry] Wood and [Jeff] Samardzija,” Sveum said. “I just let them know that’s a team that can compete and do really well. We’re not here to rebuild, we’re here to try to win the World Series this year.”

If you aren’t familiar with the Cubs’ roster yet, the catcher is Geovany Soto, the first baseman is Bryan LaHair, the shortstop is Starlin Castro, the third baseman is Ian Stewart, the center fielder is Marlon Byrd, the left fielder is Alfonso Soriano, and David DeJesus is in right.

– Carrie Muskat