Spring Training Thread

[Guest]

Theo is a man after my own heart.

 

President Theo Epstein’s philosophy of running an organization may differ from other executives. At a recent meeting of the team’s scouts in Chicago, the scouts were reminded to be careful about punctuation and capitalization in their reports. It may seem like small potatoes, but the Cubs apparently believe in the credo of famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: “God is in the details.”

[MSG T]

Theo is a man after my own heart.

 

President Theo Epstein’s philosophy of running an organization may differ from other executives. At a recent meeting of the team’s scouts in Chicago, the scouts were reminded to be careful about punctuation and capitalization in their reports. It may seem like small potatoes, but the Cubs apparently believe in the credo of famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: “God is in the details.”

 

 

So Theo is a grammar nazi... cool. :D

[Guest]

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Schierholtz-and-DeJesus.jpg

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Beef-Well-2.jpg

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Barney-Jax.jpg

 

More at link:

 

http://boysofspring.com/cubs-workout/

[Sammy Sofa]

McNutt might never amount to anything, but I'm a fan for life:

 

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/McNutt2.jpg

 

Beard on, beardy man.

[SouthSideRyan]

McNutt might never amount to anything, but I'm a fan for life:

 

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/McNutt2.jpg

 

Beard on, beardy man.

 

Like you'd ever give up on Brian Wilson.

[Sammy Sofa]

[expletive] that scumbag fake-bearder.

[Brian]

Haven't really been paying that much attention, but I didn't know Kerry was going to be an instructor in camp.

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Kerry-Wood.jpg

 

Arodys

http://boysofspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Arodys-Vizcaino-819x1024.jpg

 

http://boysofspring.com/blue_print/

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Anyone else thinking Castillo surprises fairly quickly and becomes and above average offensive catcher?

[Guest]

Some stuff on Jackson's swing changes

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130213&content_id=41607544&notebook_id=41608608&vkey=notebook_chc&c_id=chc

 

MESA, Ariz. -- An intense week of hitting in November may help Brett Jackson become the hitter the Cubs think he can be.

 

Jackson and teammate Darwin Barney spent time with Cubs manager Dale Sveum, hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Rob Deer at Fitch Park. After striking out 59 times in 120 big league at-bats -- and 158 times at Triple-A Iowa -- Jackson needed some help. His hands are lower now, and his swing is more compact.

 

"It has to do with using more of my top hand," Jackson said of the changes. "I'm a right-hand dominant athlete, and I have a tendency to try to overdo it a little bit with my bottom hand. If you watch swings from last year, you know my back elbow was getting really high and causing kind of like a teetering effect and making me slightly late on everything.

 

"Now, I'm working on just keeping my back elbow down and being shorter to the ball, amongst other things, but that's the biggest adjustment," he said.

 

Sveum said Jackson should see results quickly.

 

"I think it's going to benefit him a lot," Sveum said of the changes. "A lot of these things, you're optimistic about change and making adjustments and stuff, and as a player, you really want the games to get going because it all feels great, but how's it going to work in a game? That's the final piece of the puzzle."

 

After his session in November, Jackson returned home and was able to continue to work on the adjustments.

 

"It's become natural at this point and it's something I have to stay on top of, but every hitter will tell you that," he said. "I think the learning process is you learn what works and what doesn't and what adjustments you need to make. That's what the end of last year allowed me to discover about myself as a hitter, so I was able to make those adjustments in the offseason. I can be a force at the plate instead of battling as I did."

[Guest]

Some more notes on yesterday's workout:

 

MESA, Ariz. -- It was only the first day of workouts, but Travis Wood's bullpen session definitely got Cubs manager Dale Sveum's attention.

 

Sveum noted that the ball was coming out of the left-hander's hand well on Tuesday, and that Wood looked much different than a year ago. That's all good.

 

"You try to look back on the season and figure out what you still need to work on and what was good and what you just need to fine-tune," Wood said of his offseason. "I took the same approach in the offseason that they wanted me to take throughout the season, which is continue to work on the side and spin pitches, and so far, so good."

 

On Wednesday, the power trio of Garza, Jeff Samardzija and Edwin Jackson had their bullpen sessions. Sveum was happy with Garza's changeup, saying the right-hander has made some mechanical adjustments. Jackson threw about "80 percent," Sveum said. Samardzija, who is vying for the Opening Day spot, was most impressive.

 

"Samardzija, you would've thought it was playoff time," Sveum said. "That was about as dominant a bullpen as you're going to see. It was pretty impressive to watch him throw those 30 pitches today."

 

One thing the Cubs haven't had is three starting pitchers who possess the velocity and ability that Garza, Samardzija and Jackson do.

 

"It's nice as a manager, the players, the organization, to know you have three guys who have no-hitter stuff when they walk up on the mound," Sveum said. "One, they have experience; two, they have great stuff, and three, they all throw over 95 miles an hour, which is always a huge plus."

 

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130213&content_id=41602068&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

[Guest]

Pleasantly surprised at the details Muskat put into that Jackson bit. Wonder if she had to press for those mechanical details, interesting and revealing stuff.

[Guest]

it's fun to fantasize, but saying his swing has changed really means nothing to us until he shows it actually makes a difference on the field.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

it's fun to fantasize, but saying his swing has changed really means nothing to us until he shows it actually makes a difference on the field.

 

Yeah, but I'm focusing on the "fun to fantasize" part. A legit starting outfielder in pre-arb would make a huge difference in the franchise's medium-term prognosis.

[UMFan83]

I know the jokes have all been made before, but Jackson trying to adjust his swing in order to strike out less by working with, among others, Rob Deer just seems odd.

[Guest]

I know the jokes have all been made before, but Jackson trying to adjust his swing in order to strike out less by working with, among others, Rob Deer just seems odd.

 

Almost as weird as Billy Beane, of the .027 career IsoD, identifying OBP as a market inefficiency.

 

Or Dusty, with his 762 career BB and his .070 career IsoD, saying that walks clog the bases.

[Derwood]

I know the jokes have all been made before, but Jackson trying to adjust his swing in order to strike out less by working with, among others, Rob Deer just seems odd.

 

He should have special hitting sessions with Cory Snider and Pete Incavigilia

[KingCubsFan]

I know the jokes have all been made before, but Jackson trying to adjust his swing in order to strike out less by working with, among others, Rob Deer just seems odd.

Hopefully Deer was on the other side of the field teaching Barney how to take a walk.

[Guest]

Pro-tip for you guys... if you want to get around the Tribune's pay-wall, just Google (in quotes) the small excerpt they actually post on the Tribune site and Google will take you to what I think is the Tribune's article archive site.

 

In this case, I searched:

 

"Darwin Barney has enough confidence in his ability he bragged last year he would spend the offseason taking his manager's money on the golf course."

 

from this article:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0214-cubs-spring-training-chicago--20130214,0,6023123.story

 

and Google gave me:

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-13/sports/ct-spt-0214-cubs-spring-training-chicago--20130214_1_dale-sveum-darwin-barney-starlin-castro

[Pushfrog98]

Pro-tip for you guys... if you want to get around the Tribune's pay-wall, just Google (in quotes) the small excerpt they actually post on the Tribune site and Google will take you to what I think is the Tribune's article archive site.

 

In this case, I searched:

 

"Darwin Barney has enough confidence in his ability he bragged last year he would spend the offseason taking his manager's money on the golf course."

 

from this article:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0214-cubs-spring-training-chicago--20130214,0,6023123.story

 

and Google gave me:

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-13/sports/ct-spt-0214-cubs-spring-training-chicago--20130214_1_dale-sveum-darwin-barney-starlin-castro

Haha... thanks for this!

[Guest]

http://c0014679.r32.cf1.rackcdn.com/x2_10e01279

 

Samardzija, Jackson, and Garza

[Tracer Bullet]

Can't wait to get down to AZ again this year.

[Tracer Bullet]

it's fun to fantasize, but saying his swing has changed really means nothing to us until he shows it actually makes a difference on the field.

 

Meh. It's leaps and bounds better than him refusing to acknowledge that his swing needed fixing. I'll take a young player with potential working hard to fix a problem over the alternative any day of the week.

[Guest]

The bottom-hand dominant thing really stuck out to me as interesting. Makes me wonder if that's a common struggle for LH hitters who throw RH. Patterson immediately comes to mind.

[jersey cubs fan]

it's fun to fantasize, but saying his swing has changed really means nothing to us until he shows it actually makes a difference on the field.

 

Meh. It's leaps and bounds better than him refusing to acknowledge that his swing needed fixing. I'll take a young player with potential working hard to fix a problem over the alternative any day of the week.

 

Well no kidding. Nobody is talking alternative. A young player being willing to work on stuff isn't out of the ordinary. What is, or will be actually meaningful is if he can translate the work to the field.

[seanimal]

Pro-tip for you guys... if you want to get around the Tribune's pay-wall, just Google (in quotes) the small excerpt they actually post on the Tribune site and Google will take you to what I think is the Tribune's article archive site.

 

In this case, I searched:

 

"Darwin Barney has enough confidence in his ability he bragged last year he would spend the offseason taking his manager's money on the golf course."

 

from this article:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0214-cubs-spring-training-chicago--20130214,0,6023123.story

 

and Google gave me:

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-13/sports/ct-spt-0214-cubs-spring-training-chicago--20130214_1_dale-sveum-darwin-barney-starlin-castro

 

That's by design. The NY Times does the same thing, where a linked version of the article bypasses the pay wall. It's actually a very intelligent strategy.