Results tagged ‘ Spring Training ’
3/2 A little pep talk
Manager Mike Quade met with Starlin Castro prior to Wednesday’s game to talk about having a little more intense approach in practice. The young shortstop made a throwing error on Tuesday, one of nine by the Cubs this spring. After watching Castro commit 27 errors in his rookie season last year, the Cubs want to make sure his errors aren’t because of mental lapses.
“You think about work intensity, you think about mental stuff, how best to get a lot of the stuff done,” Quade said of the overall defense. “One thing I know for sure is, I watch early work every day and guys are working. You start with that. So, is it game situations? In ‘Cassie’s’ situation, is it inexperience? Is it concentration or focus? You try to deal with that.”
What the Cubs will try is demanding a more intense approach in practice sessions. Infield coach Ivan DeJesus, who went to the Dominican Republic to work with Castro for one week on his throwing mechanics, will be in charge of the amped up sessions.
“Somehow, someway put yourself in a game situation and play for keeps,” Quade said of the message to Castro.
He listened. In the first inning Wednesday, Castro hit a two-run homer off the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo.
– Carrie Muskat
3/2 Cubs wives food drive Sunday
The Cubs wives will host their 14th annual food drive to benefit Paz de Cristo on Sunday at HoHoKam Stadium. Fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to Gate D. The first 500 fans who make a donation of 10 non-perishable food items or $20 will be able to select a 5×7 autographed photo of a Cubs player. There is a limit of two photos per person while supplies last.
– Carrie Muskat
2/28 Welcome home
Kerry Wood received a standing ovation from the fans at HoHoKam Park on Monday as he entered for his first spring appearance with the Cubs. He was more concerned about his fastball. Wood, back with the Cubs after pitching two seasons in the American League with the Indians and the Yankees, decided being home was most important and signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract in December.
“It was nice to get out there and get the first one out of the way,” Wood said. “The fan response was great.”
The Brewers weren’t as receptive. Luis Cruz singled to lead off the sixth and moved up on a wild pitch. Two outs later, he scored on a triple by Caleb Gindl, who tallied on Zelous Wheeler’s double.
Wood was happy with his breaking pitches, and acknowledged he threw a lot of fastballs, and the Brewers didn’t miss. The ovation was sweet.
“[Coming back] never was about trying to get a reception, it was more about being home,” said Wood, who has made Chicago his offseason home. “It’s better than getting booed off the field when you come off.”
He’s been staying under the radar this spring. That’s a veteran move.
“I know when they let [the media] in [to the clubhouse] and I know when you go out,” he said, laughing.
– Carrie Muskat
2/27 Garza gets 1st hit
Matt Garza wasn’t too bothered by his pitching line from his first game with the Cubs. He had a ball in his locker from his first hit — ever.
Garza, who has spent his entire career in the American League, led off the fourth with a single down the first base line. Someone from the A’s threw the ball into the Cubs dugout so Garza would have the souvenir.
“That’s exciting,” Garza said. “I’ve been working with [hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo] and a bunch of the other coaches and before the game I was out there swinging with ‘Z’ and Rudy was watching and said, ‘Hey, get ready earlier and try to put the bat on the ball.’ That’s what I was trying to do is not strike out and look foolish.”
When he got to first, Oakland’s Daric Barton told him not to smile but Garza couldn’t help it.
“I said, ‘Dude, it’s my first hit,’” Garza said. “He said, ‘Just turn around and smile.’ It’s a good jumping off point.”
The Cubs were laughing about it.
“Today my job was to get outs and I got six of them,” Garza said, “but not the way I wanted to go about it. It’s spring, I wasn’t throwing any breaking balls today, just fastballs and changeups. My location was off. It’s spring. At least the ball felt good coming out of my hand, it felt very explosive towards home plate. Everything that needs to be there is there.”
– Carrie Muskat
2/27 Play ball
They pulled the tarp off the field at 9:30 a.m. MT Sunday at HoHoKam Park and there should be no problem getting the Cubs’ first Cactus League game in vs. the Athletics. First pitch 1:05 p.m. Mountain Time/2:05 p.m. Central Time. You can listen on WGN Radio as Pat Hughes & Keith Moreland begin their first season together. The first TV broadcast will be in one week when the Cubs play host to the Dodgers. This is the Cubs’ 33rd consecutive spring in Mesa, the longest active streak in the Cactus League.
Manager Mike Quade said he’ll take a moment before the game starts, just as he did before his first game in the big leagues as a coach and first game as the Cubs manager back on Aug. 23. He’s done his part to improve communications, and posted not just the starting lineup but also the backups at each position. He’s also posting lineups three days in advance.
“No one can say they weren’t ready if they see three days of lineups,” he said.
Here’s Sunday’s lineup in case you missed it:
RF Fukudome
SS Castro
CF Byrd
3B Ramirez
1B Pena
LF Soriano
C Soto
2B DeWitt
P Zambrano
Also slated to pitch are Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol, John Grabow, Marcos Mateo and Justin Berg. Expect Zambrano and Garza to go two innings each.
– Carrie Muskat
2/26 Cubs extra bases
Manager Mike Quade won’t be calling for a hit and run early in Spring Training. “I told the club today, it’s not rocket science,” Quade said Saturday on the eve of the first Cactus League game. “[I told them] ‘The first week or two, you guys play, show us what you can do, use your judgement, my catchers will run the running game.’ I want to watch guys play and think on their feet. If I’m creating a bunch of robots, that’s not good.”
* By posting lineups for three games in advance, players get a heads up. “No one can say they weren’t ready,” Quade said.
* Sunday’s game will start at 1:05 p.m. Mountain Time at HoHoKam Park.
* Greg Maddux, a special assistant to general manager Jim Hendry joined the Cubs on Saturday. He will work with the pitchers and do some scouting.
– Carrie Muskat
2/24 Lineup options
Manager Mike Quade will post the lineup for the Cactus League opener on Friday and the only thing that appears to be set is that Aramis Ramirez will bat fourth. That’s been Ramirez’s spot for the majority of his career, and where he’s hit for the Cubs.
“I see him as such a good RBI guy that it makes sense in the four-hole,” Quade said Thursday of the third baseman, who has a career .293 average with runners on. “He’s a guy who, as much mixing and matching that I do, he doesn’t figure to be one of the guys I’ll mix and match with. Some guys don’t care [where they are in the lineup] and I know he does. He seems like the four-hole to me because I want him driving in runs. But I’m a grownup and I reserve the right to change my mind.”
So, expect some experimentation this spring. Quade would like to keep Starlin Castro No. 2. The shortstop does have speed and can bunt. Couldn’t he leadoff?
“No,” Quade said. “Because he’s young. … He hasn’t earned the right to figure he’s going to hit anywhere although he hit .300 in the two-hole. I think I’m smart enough to say, ‘Look, I’ll take .300 in the two-hole again.’”
Castro, entering his second season, still needs to learn pitch selection, still needs to get more experience.
“There’s all sorts of value for where he’s at right now,” Quade said of the shortstop, who turns 21 in March. “I’d like to think he will be talented enough to be that guy someday.”
– Carrie Muskat
2/20 Traveling man Coello happy with Cubs
Robert Coello had a busy offseason. He pitched for Licey in the Dominican Republic, and was headed home but the Guasave team in Mexico called, so he joined them for a nine-game stretch. His last appearance was on Christmas Day.
Last week, the pitcher packed up his family and arrived in Florida to get ready for the Red Sox spring camp and then got a phone call from Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Coello was now with the Cubs after being traded for Minor League infielder Tony Thomas.
“It was a little bit surprising,” Coello said. “When the phone rang, Jim Hendry called me and told me about the trade and I was really happy to be with the Chicago Cubs.”
Last year, he totaled 145 innings in 49 games for four different teams, starting in April with Double-A Portland, where he was 4-1 with one save with a 3.32 ERA in 14 games. At Triple-A Pawtucket, he was 3-5 with a 4.22 ERA in 18 games, including nine starts. Then he went to the Dominican, and in his first start Oct. 22, he gave up one hit and two walks over five innings and fanned four.
When Coello pitched for Licey, his catcher was Welington Castillo of the Cubs.
“He said, ‘When I got the news I was coming here, I thought about you,’” said Castillo, who likes the right-hander’s fastball.
Coello must be good at packing a suitcase. He’s traveled quite a bit.
“[The trade] was a little difficult because you already know the organization,” he said, “but it is a business so from a business standpoint, you have to be open minded and hope you can be lucky to get into a good organization like this. I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about the Cubs.”
– Carrie Muskat
2/18 Mesa crew honors Lubie
The grounds crew in Mesa, Ariz., has planted a plum tree and will add a plaque at HoHoKam Park in honor of Lubie Veal, the former head groundskeeper for the Cubs, who died last August. Veal was 86. The Murray, Ky., native also worked for the Reds, Expos, Red Sox, and Braves.
– Carrie Muskat
2/18 Full squad to workout Saturday
Manager Mike Quade will meet with the full squad on Saturday for his first official pep talk of the 2011 season. The session, scheduled for everyone in the weight room at Fitch Park before the workout, will give Quade the chance to “lay down a little bit of the direction I’d like to see us going, some things I’d like to do, both philosophically and technically.”
Quade, who replaced Lou Piniella last August as the Cubs manager, said he needs to set the tone from the start.
“I’m not allowed to say, ‘I’d like this and this’ from my club this year, and ‘I’d like this and this’ coming out of Spring Training if I don’t stress that with them,” Quade said. “They’re not going to get that by osmosis.”
Alfonso Soriano stopped by the Cubs facility Thursday, and the only position players who have not shown up at Fitch Park were third baseman Aramis Ramirez and shortstop Starlin Castro. Quade wasn’t worried about Castro since he played Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic and also had two weeks of instruction by Cubs coaches Ivan DeJesus and Franklin Font.
– Carrie Muskat
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