3/6 Castro feels no pain, ready for 162

Starlin Castro said he feels no pain in his left hamstring and is sidelined strictly as a precautionary move.

“There’s no pain anymore,” the Cubs shortstop said Wednesday in Mesa. “When I’m hitting on the field, it’s 100 percent, I don’t feel anything.”

He has not played in one week because of tightness in his hamstring, and was not expected to get back into a game until Monday.

“I want to be playing,” he said. “I don’t want to see the other people play. It’s not for me. I like to play every time I can get in the game.”

If there’s no pain, why is he sitting now?

“I want to be strong, I don’t want to go in a game now, and get hurt in a game, and out maybe one month of the season, two weeks,” he said. “I don’t want that. I want to make sure I’m good and can play in the season.”

Castro appeared in all 162 games last season, and that’s a goal of his heading into the 2013 season.

“It’s an important goal for me,” he said. “I see guys who play a lot of games, and that’s what I like to play. I don’t care where, I don’t care what league, I like to play. This is the only thing I know how to do is play baseball. That’s why I put it in my mind to play. I don’t want to miss games. In the season, I don’t want to miss games. I like to play every game.”

– Carrie Muskat