Manager Mike Quade lost some sleep Tuesday night while making some pitching decisions. On Wednesday, he’ll be tossing and turning over which regulars make the final 25-man roster. The Cubs need to pick an extra infielder and outfielder for the bench.
* Carlos Zambrano threw 82 pitches over four innings in the Cubs’ Minor League camp for the Triple-A team against the Diamondbacks.
* Casey Coleman had a solid 1-2-3 inning in relief in the seventh Wednesday. The right-hander could be an option in the bullpen. “Casey has been a starter,” Quade said. “You see an inning today [and think] could he come back and give you three [innings] in a couple days? Could he do that in the midst of being a Major League starter someday? It’s encouraging to see him get up in a bullpen situation, come in and get three outs there.”
* Carlos Silva had his best spring outing, giving up one run on three
hits over six innings in the Cubs’ 3-1 win over the Athletics. Now what?
“This means that decisions remain tough and we have to figure it out and
we’re thrilled that guys are competing and making it tough,” Quade
said. “We’ll see how this plays out and I’ll milk it as long as I can,
to be honest.”
Silva, competing with Andrew Cashner and Braden Looper for the final spot, took to heart some advice from pitcher Ryan Dempster.
“Today he said, ‘I don’t want you to give me 100 percent, I want you to
give me 80 percent,’” Silva said of his conversation with the Cubs’
Opening Day starter.
That might sound counter-productive, but the message was to try to not
do too much. Calm down, don’t overthrow, and trust your stuff. Wednesday
was Silva’s last chance.
“I needed this game,” Silva said. “It doesn’t matter if I make the
rotation, it’s personal. I needed a good game. I don’t know what the
decision will be but personally I needed this game just to start
building my confidence and trust myself a little more. Next time I’ll go
out with a more positive attitude.”
– Carrie Muskat
