Q. Dusty Baker and you have a lot of decisions to make this spring, including who will become the Cubs’ leadoff hitter. After coming so tantalizingly close to advancing to the World Series last season, what will be the general approach this spring?
A. I am very excited and all of us guys feel like we have a job to do, so to speak–some unfinished business. I think we got a real good taste of [success] last year and we have added on players this year. We are looking forward to getting to spring training and seeing what it is all about. We have our work cut out for us, obviously, with St. Louis and Houston and their pitching staffs. But we feel we will be able to compete on a daily basis.
Q. So much has been said and written about your friend Pete Rose, who gave you the nickname “Sarge” when you were teammates with the National League champion Phillies in 1983. What are your thoughts on him now that he finally has admitted he gambled on baseball?
A. I played with him and I know he was a heck of a player on the field. I don’t have a vote, but I would actually vote him into the Hall of Fame. Other than the things that he has admitted, I have nothing bad to say about him. His betting as a manager … I guess that is well-documented. But to me as a player, there was no better competitor.
Q. The similarities to how the Cubs lost in the playoffs to the Marlins last fall and the way your 1984 Cubs lost to San Diego are eerie. Cubs fans had high expectations for the ’85 season, as they do for the 2004 campaign. But your ’85 Cubs endured many injuries and wound up 77-84, 23 1/2 games out of first. Does that concern you?
A. We won’t dwell on that. The 1984 season had different circumstances. When we lost in that year, we never got back to using Steve Trout [in the final ’84 playoff game]. Last year we got beat with Mark Prior and Kerry Wood [in Games 6 and 7]. We did have a lot of injuries in ’85. So I think the correlation is a little bit different.
Q. As the hitting coach, you must be excited about the acquisition of first baseman Derrek Lee, who hit 31 home runs for the Marlins last season, and the return of a healthy Corey Patterson in center field. You also should have quality offensive depth in the infield. Will that make your job easier?
A. We will be fired up all of spring training. And I think it is indicative that all of the guys we have coming here are going to be sacrificing playing almost every day someplace else. They just want to come here to win.
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E-mail: AskFred@tribune.com.
