Day 9 in Mesa, Live BP, Radio Recaps and more...

Let's start off with some notes from Day 9 in Mesa:

• According to Gordon Wittenmyer, Jeff Samardzija will start the Spring Training opener on Wednesday against the Dodgers.



• Wittenmyer also reports that Marmol is still on the fence about the WBC, but it looks like he is going to skip it.



• Big Z threw 25 pitches to hitters today.



• Lou plans on having Milton Bradley clean up, as of right now, but there's still lots of camp left.



• Check these videos from Cubs Camp. Hear from Geovany Soto, Rich Harden, Carlos Marmol, Chad Gaudin, Derrek Lee, and Ryan Dempster.
• Cubs hitting coach Gerald Perry will be away from the team for awhile to tend to his family because his father passed away on Friday.
  
  

Some notes from Cubs Live Batting Practice yesterday:

• All of the pitchers from Group 2 threw Live BP except Jose Ascanio, Marco Mateo, Andrew Cashner, David Patton, and Luis Vizcaino.



• All of the position players hit in live BP except Aramis Ramirez, Jake Fox, Steve Clevenger, Mark Johnson, and Paul Bako.



• Field #3 Batting Practice: Pitchers- Jeff Samardzija, Matt Smith, Ken Kadokura, Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg, and Vince Perkins. Catcher- Geovany Soto, Koyie Hill, and Paul Bako. Hitters- Mike Fontenot, Joey Gathright, Geovany Soto, Ryan Theriot, Reed Johnson, Derrek Lee, Aaron Miles, Milton Bradley, Koyie Hill, and Alfonso Soriano.



• Field #2 Live BP: Pitchers- J.R. Mathes, Edward Campusano, Jeff Stevens, Esmalin Caridad, Rock Roquet, Jason Waddell. Catchers- Welington Castillo, Steve Clevenger, and Mark Johnson. Hitters- Darwin Barney, Jason Dubois, Doug Deeds, Bobby Scales, Sam Fuld, Richie Robnett, Brad Snyder, So Taguchi, Andres Blanco, Welington Castillo, Micah Hoffpauir, and Luis Rivas.



• Each pitcher threw 25 pitches.



• Position players in groups of 3 or 4.



• Catchers alternating between catching the BP, warming up the next pitcher, and hitting.

Carlos Zambrano joined Waddle & Silvy on Thursday:

• Big Z's off season was good. He worked hard to keep improving.



• Zambrano played a little pick-up softball with some Cubs fans one night this off season. He plays 1B and LF.



• He says that he was trying to let his mustache grow big like "Hitler".



• Mark asked how long the playoff loss stayed with Carlos last year. Z said that this is a new year and we can't think about that.



• Carlos said that he made the decision not to pitch in the WBC because of his problem with his vision. One of the reasons is because he doesn't want to be pitching 5-6 innings early in the spring.



• He says his eyes are getting better, he doesn't know yet about the LASIK surgery.



• Big Z says that Lou is in trouble if he starts Ted Lilly on Opening Day. He went on to say that he was just kidding, Lou has 4 good starting pitchers and the Opening Day starter is up to Lou.

Milton Bradley was on The Afternoon Saloon on Wednesday:

• After the first two questions from Carmen were about his temper, Milton said that that was all these guys wanted to talk about and that he has a lot more to offer than that.



• Bradley is going to continue to be serious about winning.



• The guys asked if Bradley thought twice about taking Sammy Sosa's old number. He said that he did the same last year with the Rangers. The guys pointed out that his run with the Cubs was more impressive than the one with Texas. Bradley replied with, "He didn't win anything."



• "I'm just telling it like it is," he said.



• Bradley said that he worked harder this off season than he ever has before.



• Milton doesn't think losing a couple times in the playoffs is a bad thing because they got that experience.



• "Lou is Lou, he's crazy like a fox," said Bradley on his new manager.



• "I played in Oakland and they have the second most day games behind the Cubs, so it's not that much different," he said on playing day baseball.



• Bradley has spent time speaking with Fontenot and Theriot and other guys picking their brain and learning about them.



• He thinks that if A-Rod gets leaked, then the other 103 names should get leaked.



• Milton thinks Rodrigez came off "very shady" when he spoke about admitting that he used banned substances.



• He thinks that Bonds and A-Rod should still be in the Hall of Fame.



• Bradley's favorite thing about Chicago is the people. He says the people are friendly and care about winning.



• After Bradley got off the phone, Carmen said that he doesn't think there was one attack in any of his questions. Yurko agrees with Carmen but Harry supported Milton.

Lou Piniella was on Talking Baseball today:

• Lou is looking forward to the first game of the Spring Training season on Wednesday.


• Piniella understands that the media has a job to do.


• He says there have been no controversies in their camp, and that's a good thing.


• Lou says the Cubs just had a bad 3 games in postseason so they made some changes adding some left handed hitting, versatility, and speed.


• He says the Cubs kept their core intact and added some pieces.


• Lou's main job in the Spring is to look at the bullpen in backup roles. The Cubbies have Theriot, Ramirez, Lee, Soto, Soriano, and Bradley penciled in. He has to take a look and 2B and CF to see what they do there.


• The Cubs will take a look at a guy like Atkins, and decide what to do with Samardzija, but the rotation is pretty set.


• Piniella says he has to do a better job of resting the team. The Cubs have more left handed and switch hitting and that will help.


• Lou says he's been here 2 years and one of the reasons that the Cubs haven't done that well in October is all the day games all summer long.


• Lou thinks Jim has done a really nice job to improve the ball club.


• There's pressure to win anywhere you play, but it's a little more difficult than Piniella thought coming in 2 years ago.


• Jonathan asked about Kosuke's confidence level. Sweet Lou doesn't really know because Fukudome is in Japan, but he thinks that he got a little tired at the end of last season and ended up trying to do more than he needed to.


• Lou is happy that fans expect the Cubs to be good each year. Over a 2 year period, the Cubs have gone from a 96 loss team to a 97 win team.

Notes from Bruce this week:

• Derrek Lee told Bruce that Milton Bradley is not the type to snap at every little thing, and he will be smart when dealing with comments from fans about the color of his skin.


• Ryan Theriot told Levine that he doesn't really care if he hits first or second, but he would like a shot to lead off.


• Lou's message to the team is "Don't take for granted that we are going to be in postseason."

Aaron Miles was on Mully and Hanley on Tuesday:

• Miles had the chance to lead off with the Rockies and he feels confident that he could lead off.


• Aaron assumes that the guy that plays the best at 2B will get the most playing time.


• He thinks that the bottom line is getting on base when you lead off.


• Aaron was just getting to know everyone on the first day in Mesa.


• His experience as a Cubbie so far has been fantastic, he's ready to get it going.


• Miles says that his issues with the Cardinals are in the past, but he's ready to be a thorn in their side.


• He thinks it is a big advantage knowing that your team is expected to be in the postseason.


• Aaron says that the Cubs want to win bad for the city, for the fans, and for the team. He laughs about the curse.


• Miles is excited that he has a chance to be apart of the team that will break the curse.

Rich Hill joined Mully & Hanley on Wednesday:

• Rich says it is hard to leave an organization that you have been with for so many years.


• Hill says he couldn't get his back right the whole summer, and described last year as "lost to injury".


• He feels 100% better.


• Rich says he ran into some shoulder problems in Winterball.


• It seems like Rich is blaming his control problems on injuries.


• He says he couldn't really finish his pitches.


• In a perfect world for Rich, he would have stayed with the Cubs.


• His favorite memory is just going to the ballpark early, and playing in front of a full house every night.


• Hill says he doesn't believe in any curses.


• He expects himself to be consistent day in and day out. He wants to get back in the "one game at a time, one pitch at a time" mindset.

More radio recaps later or tomorrow if I get a chance!

Some notes on this blog:

• Tomorrow- Spring Training Preview: The Infield, new poll, Numbers Breakdown, radio recaps, and updates from Mesa.
• Monday- Spring Training Preview: The Outfield, updates
• Tuesday- Live Chat at 7 PM CT, last official day of off season coverage on our blog.

Then the Spring Training games start. Here's what I will include on this site during Spring Training:

• I'll still have radio recaps, rumors, and news covered.
• Recaps/Previews for each Spring Training game.
• Updates on Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa with the Indians.
• Updates on Rich Hill, Felix Pie, and Ronny Cedeno with the O's.
• My thoughts on what's going on with the Cubs.
• Numbers Breakdown each weekend.
• Live Cubs Chats almost every week.
• Links and more.

That's it for now, I'll keep you posted.