Welcome to Fitch Park

By Neil on February 13, 2009 17 Vote 0 Votes

Charley Steiner once said, "There is something liberating about those magical words, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training." The four-month wait is over....the Cubs' baseball season begins today.

Pitchers and catchers will report to Fitch Park in Mesa, Arizona on Friday with their first workout scheduled for Saturday. Geovany Soto, Angel Guzman, Rich Harden, Jeff Samardzija, Neal Cotts, Chad Gaudin, Randy Wells and Koyie Hill are among the players that have already made their way to camp....Lou Piniella and Jim Hendry made appearances on Thursday and are scheduled to speak with the media on Friday.

Fitch Park will soon be filled with the sights and sounds of the game once again. The Hot Stove League has come to an end, it is time for baseball.....Chicago Cubs Baseball.

Here's the latest and more photos of Fitch Park....

Zambrano's LASIK Surgery

According to a report from the Tribune, Carlos Zambrano "will have LASIK eye surgery at the end of Spring Training." At the end of Spring Training? What happened to January? The Tribune mentioned Zambrano "told no one about it before hand."

The Cubs need Zambrano to have a bounce-back season but that would require Zambrano to grow-up....wonder how this one will be spun. Stay Tuned....

Kosuke Fukudome

A recent report on Cubs.com talked about the progress Kosuke Fukudome has made this off-season with his conditioning, but the most concerning sentence in the whole article:

"The Cubs won't see Kosuke Fukudome until sometime in March because the outfielder is committed to playing for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic."

So the Cubs will not see Fukudome until the last two weeks of Spring Training....the last game of the World Baseball Classic is scheduled for Mar. 23 at Dodger Stadium.

Miller Park South

The Brewers' fans invade Wrigley? According to a report from the Associated Press, "The Milwaukee Brewers and Amtrak are teaming up for a road game in Chicago. The first 100 Brewers fans who buy tickets to the Cubs' Sept. 17 game at Wrigley Field will get a free, round-trip ride to Chicago on Amtrak."

The Brewers are calling the promotion "Miller Park South".

Dis-N-Dat from the Wire

According to Bruce Miles, Geovany Soto and Angel Guzman were "among the most impressive looking, from an in-shape standpoint." Soto said his weight is down to 228-230, last year's media guide listed him at 225 but reports indicated he came in heavier than that last Spring Training.

Reed Johnson told Dave Kaplan on Thursday night that he would be in Mesa by Saturday, two days before the first team workout

Jim Hendry was the keynote speaker for the LSU Baseball First Pitch Banquet Tuesday at the Maravich Center.

Jeff Passan previewed the NL Central on Thursday....the Cubs are the favorite, but don't forget the Reds.

Ben Sheets

A report on NBC Chicago's website titled, "Ben Sheets, A Cub?" discussed the pros and cons of the Cubs signing Ben Sheets to a contract. The big negative...shoulder surgery, the big positive, when healthy Sheets is one of the games best. Another negative...signing Sheets before June would cost the Cubs a first round pick in the draft.

Sheets' surgery on Tuesday was a success according to Ken Rosenthal and the former Brewers' ace is looking to pitch this season.

Fitch Park

All Photos by ChicagoCubsOnline

The forecast for Friday in Mesa....65 and sunny. Saturday is expected to be 63 and sunny....perfect weather for the start of Camp Lou III.

laser eye surgery

This was a really nice post. In idea I want to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and actual effort to make an excellent article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and on no account appear to get something done.

Tara

cant wait to see garza

Neil

Sean...thank you and welcome to the CCO.

Like you I found the 'Miller Park South' promotion a little wierd. Only the first 100?

Sean

Hey everyone, this is my first time commenting and like all of you I am a huge Cubs fan. I just want to start off by saying thanks to Neil for all the hard work he puts in to operating this great site.

On to why I am commenting, does anyone else find the whole Miller Park South thing laughable? There is no way the Brewers fans can bring the same numbers that Cubs fans bring to Wrigley North. I went to the Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee at the end of July last year, when Edmonds hit 2 home runs, including a grand slam, and the Cubs pounded the Brewers. As you all know, the place was packed with Cubs fans, and we completely overwhelmed the Brewers fans. Also, I know you can't take anything for granted in baseball and anything can happen, but I think the Cubs should have a sizable lead in the division come September 17th. Hopefully the only implications that game will have for the Cubs will be concerning home field advantage in the playoffs.

Today is a great day, as baseball is officially back. Let's get this season going!

Gary J

JimK - I'm with you on the Dodgers and Manny. I think they are at "take it or leave it" time. Either Manny signs or they start spending that money where they still can.

Gary J

On Fukudome... no worries from my side of things with the playing time. He'll get in as good a shape training with the Japanese national team (if not better) as he would in camp with the Cubs. Plus he'll get significantly more playing time.

There are going to be scouts from every ball club on the planet there - Asia, MLB, everywhere. Cubs won't be any exception. And the quality of competition will be better than spring training.

We'll know how Dome's swing looks well before those last two weeks of spring - and he's likely to be in great game shape.

jerljr

Hold up on minute!!!!

Not that I would defend Zambrano in the maturity issue very often but this isn't a big deal.

Lasik surgery take no time to recover from and whatever eye problems he had he was wearing contacts to compensate for, I'm sure.

All this means is that he wont have to wear contacts anymore.

There's alot you can rag on him about but this isn't one of them.

This isn't a big deal. Its not why he had a bad second half, he's not going to miss probably more than a day. This is very small.

I guess you could say that he should of got it done in the offseason but he might of had a checkup just before the spring training and the doctor suggested it. But he'll miss a day maybe two.

It no big deal.

Neil

Jerljr....I mentioned Z's LASIK surgery. He was supposed to have it in January, right after the convention. The Tribune made it out to be a bigger deal than I guess it is...the Sun-Times reported today that Z had an eye infection that prevented him from having the surgery.

My problem is players should do everything they can to have surgeries early on in the off-season in order to not delay the start of their season.

paul k

Were people this upset with DeRosa last season when he knew he had a heart condition that could need sugery and he waited until spring training?

JimK

Thank you Neil for the visible signs of spring training. I got a spring training haircut this morning just in case Lou calls and needs a little help before my planned mid-March arrival.

For those who don't know, the long paved walk between two fields (second pic in the group) leads to the center point for two more diamonds--all 4 home plates are near the observation tower. The picture is taken from the entrance drive into Fitch Park and public parking is on the other side of the entrance drive. Jaque Jones once stood on one home plate and was able to throw past all three other home plates--so you know that they are only steps apart. The good news is that everything is free.

It would be almost humorous and could be very productive--if the Cubs sign Sheets after the June date when the draft pick no longer applys. The (graveyard) humor would be tempting luck again with a player with an injury history. My guess is that, if Harden and Bradley aren't scaring the bejeebers out of them and we need a starter, JH, Lou and the Ricketts will say something like let's do an incentives type deal like Bradley's.

My sources, M.I. and J.G., think that the Dodgers will stand by a few more days while Manny decides to take either the 2 years at $22 mil each or 1 year at $25 mil. Then the Dodgers will pull the Manny offers and make an important trade with the Yankees. The productive outfielder, Xavier Nady, and one or both of McAlister (RHP) and Robertson (RRP) will go to the D's for high level prospects Xavier Paul (OF), Joshua Bell (3B-1B-OF) and young RHP, Josh Lindbloom.

daverj

JimK,

I hope you are right on Manny. I'd love to see him and Boras run out of options. If the Dodgers deal for Nady or Swisher, then Manny's only remaining suiter will be SF and they surely won't pay him what he is looking for.

Michael

Don't know about anyone else but I am very happy today!

A few thoughts...

Really Z, you don't tell anyone! Wierd. First impression is that this is a sign of further immaturity, not to blow this up bigger than it needs to be but, why???

Fuku, I know national pride is important but is it as important as a starting spot this year???

Reed, I wish we had 25 guys just like you, a true lead by example mentality, need this attitude to be infectious this Spring.

Miller Park South... Ha...

Seriously...Jealousy...Envy, good try cheese heads but never going to match up to the Faithful! But hey maybe they can come watch Sheets pitch!

Dan

Woohooo! Let's play some ball!

I certainly hope WGN gets their ducks in a row to broadcast games. It just wouldn't be the same.

roguesqr09

That is troubling news Austin. I hope that isn't the case.

On a side note...it's time!!! Finally!! Let's play two!

nick

Baseball is back!! It has been a long winter.

Neil

Austin....sorry for the delay but that was news to me so I 'poked around' a little this morning. I called WGN and talked to programming.

The schedule for the regular season should be out sometime next week and the gentleman I spoke with thinks they are under contract to televise Cubs games until 2013...

Hope this helps.

Austin

Neil:

Any idea on what's going to happen with WGN since they are without a contract to broadcast the Cubs this year? On Cubs.com, the broadcast schedule still has games on TV for Comcast, ESPN, and such, about 80% of the games are "not televised."