The Cubs have had 20 position players who have gotten into 10 or more games this spring thanks to Lou Piniella’s “spread the wealth” philosophy.
Piniella likes to play a lot of kids in spring training, remembering when he was in their position and sat on the bench while the veterans played.
But now most of the kids are gone and Piniella is focused on the final week of games before the start of the regular season. Here are the four things he must find before the end of the Cactus League schedule:
Closer
Kerry Wood will nail down the spot officially Sunday or Monday, after throwing his eighth straight scoreless inning Saturday against the White Sox, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Barring an injury, Wood will beat out Bob Howry and Carlos Marmol for the privilege of replacing Ryan Dempster. Wood has thrown as high as 98 m.p.h. this spring and has not walked a single hitter.
Rotation
Jason Marquis makes his final spring start Sunday and could be traded by week’s end. Marquis’ salary is an albatross — he’s owed more than $16 million the next two seasons — so the Cubs would have to eat a significant amount of the contract, or trade him for an equally unattractive contract (hello, Coco Crisp?). Dempster and Jon Lieber appear set in the rotation.
Bench
The Cubs are not deep, as Piniella has said repeatedly. Having a good bench may be more important for the Cubs than other teams, Piniella said, because of “all the different time slots and day games.” While the Cubs have one of the better pinch-hitters in the game in Daryle Ward, he’s limited because he can be a defensive liability in right field and won’t get much action at first.
Matt Murton has had a good spring but may be trade bait. Other than Kosuke Fukudome, the only possible backup center fielder is Ronny Cedeno, who never has played there in the majors.
The final infield spot is between Mike Fontenot and Alex Cintron, who has been out with a sore hamstring.
Winning attitude
The Cubs have not won more than two games in a row all spring and have had several games in which the bullpen blew a late-inning lead. With seven games remaining and most of the regulars playing six or more innings, they should start treating the games with a little more importance.
“This is not like a spigot, where you turn it on or off,” Piniella said. “You have to get into a rhythm, get into the habit of winning baseball games, holding leads, so you feel you can do that comfortably when the season starts.”
