It's raining, let's go to a museum

Last night I awoke to a loud crash of thunder at about 2:30am and with the appearance of a small pond in my front yard this morning I'm guessing it must have rained all night. Right now it's around 45 degrees and still raining, so it's a good day for the Cubs...to simulate April conditions at Wrigley. Starting tomorrow the 10 day forecast looks outstanding and we're expecting partly sunny skies and a high of 70 for Thursday's opening spring game at Hohokam.

This past Thursday evening I had the pleasure of being invited to the Mayor's Reception for the opening of the "Play Ball, The Cactus League Experience" at the Arizona Museum for Youth (AMY). They've really added and expanded the story for the "Play Ball" exhibit at the new AMY location, it's close to Hohokam and well worth the visit. As you might have guessed the Cubs are particularly well represented in the exhibit having been in Arizona for spring training 58 of the last 59 years. The Mesa Historical Museum and it's Executive Director Lisa Anderson were very much driving forces in making this exhibition come to life.

At the reception Robert Brintion who holds so many titles it's hard to keep track, not the least of which is Cactus League President gave some background on spring training and then introduced Mesa Mayor Scott Smith. The Mayor gave some words and then opened the exhibit with former Arizona Governor Rose Mofford.

Governor Mofford in large part helped save the Cactus League from extinction in the mid-late 1980's when Florida was making efforts to become the sole MLB spring training league. The course of action set by Mofford and a host of influential Arizonans has obviously worked well; with the 2010 addition of the Cincinnati Reds to the Cactus League, Arizona now has an equal 15 teams to Florida's Grapefruit League.

At the exhibit reception I ran into many friends and met others whose time and dedication helped make this exhibit possible. One of the friends I talked with is Dave Dunne who oversaw the running of Hohokam Stadium since it opened in 1997, Dave is from Chicago and a big Cubs fan. This off-season Dave was given an offer too good to refuse and has left Hohokam/City of Mesa and is now Manager of Spring Training Operations for the Arizona DBacks. Currently his job entails the overseeing of the new DBacks/Rockies spring facility being built on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community land. This job change is great for Dave and his family but he will be missed at Hohokam.

Here's a few pics from the "Play Ball, The Cactus League Experience", only a few though as you need to go and see it for yourself.


Former Arizona Governor Rose Mofford speaks at Mayors reception


Dave Dunne and his donated Mark Grace
autographed door from old Hohokam Park


Just a few of the Cubs items at the "Play Ball" exhibit


Yes, you can sing along with Harry at "Play Ball"

Fun at Fitch

This is the point of the baseball season when things are as casual as they will ever get, Cubs players are having fun...sure they're working and focused but with a definite upbeat feel. That was never more evident than today when a series of drills had the players laughing and kidding each other as well as entertaining the onlookers at Fitch Park.

One of the early drills had pitchers fielding with a special "Incrediball" a kind of a soft rubber coated ball that really moves when hit. This helps the pitchers reflexes and fielding, and makes for some interesting viewing. This fauxball moves so fast and looks like a regular baseball that some players natural "pull your head away" defense mechanism kicks in. Early on Carlos Marmol had trouble fielding these shots but came around, then at the end of the drill Jeff Samardzija had some issues and needed several repetitions until he got it right. One of the players who stood out in this drill was Esmailin Caridad, he was like a hockey goalie with amazing reflexes...It may be easier for Caridad to get down low for this drill being only 5'10" as opposed to the taller pitchers.

While waiting his turn to field Big Z briefly showed some of his soccer moves using one of these spongy balls for bouncing maneuvers (think Hacky Sack) with his feet and was quite good at it.

The pitchers then got a chance to do some bp. Even though Big Z says he's willing to give up his pinch hitting this season, don't ask him to give up time in the cage. Z also gave Carlos Silva some encouragement during bp as Silva coming from the A.L. has a grand total of 27 MLB at bats in his 8 seasons. Greg Maddux was behind the batting cage while some of the pitchers took bp and at one point kept tossing a baseball into the chain link fence. I think Maddux is an excellent addition to the Cubs coaching staff and will help in many capacities but I got the feeling he really misses playing.

Ryan Theriot was practicing like normal today after being hit in the hand by a pitch yesterday, even drawing a compliment from Ryne Sandberg after a good round of bp.

Another fun to watch drill had baseballs being shot out of a machine from home plate to areas between players so the fielders had to call for it with a loud "I got it". A truly simple but valuable drill and I only saw one "near" collision...Some of the guys were giving Andres Blanco a bit of crap because Blanco seemed to call nearly every ball on the diamond. I did notice that the CF's (guys rotated in) who called "I got it" going towards left field really didn't have to call it...Soriano wasn't usually close and probably not running full speed yet...Or maybe he was, sometimes it's hard to tell.

My photos from today.


Z focused on Incrediball


2008 First round pick Andrew Cashner


Marmol awaits Incrediball


Rafael Dolis


Samardzija waits


And watches


Caridad with the glove save


Mad Dog pitching it off the chain fence


Maddux and Dempster


You want more spin?


Chad Tracy waits


Hoffpauir makes running snag


A-Ram on the move

Parties, Night Creatures, and Baseball

In this part of camp (before Cactus League games) injuries are big stories, even minor injuries. Right now we have Soriano's knee feeling better, Guzman's shoulder a bit tender, and Theriot's wrist sore due to a Rafael Dolis plunking. So far none of this is really problematic to the Cubs chances this season. Sori says he'll be ready by opening day, The Riot is day to day, and Guzman was already out waiting on his scoped knee to fully heel, it's Angel's new shoulder situation that merits watching. Guzzy says the shoulder isn't a big deal but he's been a walking injury since joining the Cubs.

Only one week until we hear the umpires around the Cactus League say, "Play Ball"! That's right baseball fans our Cubs open at Hohokam next Thursday against the Oakland Athletics who will be bringing ex-Cubs Jake Fox, Eric Patterson, and Micheal Wuertz to the party.

Speaking of parties, I hear that Cubs legend Ron Santo is being thrown one in honor of his 70th Birthday which is today. Some of Ron's Cubs pals are flying to AZ for the soiree. Since I didn't get an invite there's a couple ways I can go on this...Head up to Ron's and pull a Salahi type party crash or take my camera and attempt gorilla paparazzi pics from the bushes outside Santo's bash. Better yet, I'll just choose to wish Ron a very Happy Birthday! And while I'm at it, Birthday wishes to Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenley as well!

I blogged on Saturday about Bruce Miles and the changing media, and now more evidence appears in the form of WGN Radio Host David Kaplan's blog. Kaplan put his mini-digi camera to work yesterday and caught some images at Cubs camp. One of his more artistic shot's is a Mapplethorpe-esk image of Starlin Castro's posterior (at left). Hey, David and Bruce are very good at what they do, but photography...well...I guess fans can never get enough Cubs.

I was noticing pools of drool around the stands at Fitch which seemed to coincide with some oohing and aahing from female fans when a certain new Cub was in the vicinity. Outfielder and Non-Roster Invitee Brett Jackson the Cubs recent draft pick from Cal is drawing praise for his play from Piniella as well as longing glances from the ladies. I get plenty of email from the girls requesting more photos of Jeff Samardzija, but...could be there's a new challenger to Samardzija's status as unofficial number one Cubs' hunk. Of course he'll need to make the team for that honor.

Aside from vapid talk of physical appearance, this Jackson kid can play some baseball. Picked 31st by the Cubs in the 1st round of 2009 MLB Draft, Jackson is the fourth highest player drafted in Cal baseball history. He left college after a stellar Jr. season where he hit .321 with 8 HR's and 11 Stolen bases. At 21 years old he's a talented fielder with a strong arm and above average speed, but will definitely need some minor league seasoning.

Born in Berkeley and a Sociology Major in college, you may guess that Jackson is...well...different. Something Gordon Wittemmyer confirmed today in his article where Jackson is quoted, "I was telling (teammate Josh Vitters) when they were sucking my blood out (for annual physicals), I kind of liked it. Isn't that weird? That's weird. I enjoyed it. I like blood."

This can only help Jackson's stock with the females as Vampires and everything vampire seems to be en vogue.

Only a week before we hear "play ball" at Hohokam, the Catus League really starts gearing up tomorrow. The Mesa Historical Museum's fantastic exhibit "Play Ball, The Cactus League Experience" is relocating to the Arizona Museum for Youth (AMY). The big debut at the new and larger space is tomorrow Friday February 26th, with an expanded story and never seen memorabilia the exhibit, is sure to be a hit. Yours truly has donated several items as well as some historic photos I've collected over the years. AMY is close to Hohokam so if you're in town be sure to check it out.

I was asked to post pics of some of the players that I haven't shown yet on the blog, so here ya go.


Brett Jackson last week


Marmol after conditioning runs


Lee and Nady


Fukudome


Riot with the buzz

Being Here

I realized this afternoon that I had not given yesterday's blog a title...It has one now.

In my never ending quest to give you the best Cubs spring training coverage, instead of photos I've got some of today's practice on video. I shot this from outside the chain link fences at the Fitch fields, where the fans sit...So if you see the fence on occasion that is why. It's nothing fancy (editing wise) but I think it gives you a feel for being here.

Some of my focus was on young infielders, Non-Roster Invitee's # 67 Starlin Castro and # 61 Josh Vitters taking some grounders as well as pitchers doing what they do here, drills and more drills. One thing I noticed that you really can't see from my video is that Castro has a very strong arm. A former Cub pitcher soon to be headed to Cooperstown N.Y. makes a cameo at the end of the video.

I talked with Bill Keane today who's here from Waterloo, Iowa, he's been a Cubs fan for 72 years, Bill is one of those who can say he saw (or at least heard on radio) the Cubs in a World Series. At 78 years young Bill was in the Randy Hundley Fantasy Camp two years ago at the age of 76...We should all be so lucky.

Enjoy practice!

Forgot Blog Title

Warm ups before today's practice

The rain has gone and the Cubs are all here, including the Ricketts family, new owners of the storied ball club. The team arrived on the fields for the first full squad work out at 10:20am, a bit later than the usual 9 to 9:30 am having met with the owners before practice. A-Ram, D Lee, Soriano, and Kid Castro all worked out today on the Fitch Park fields for the first time this year. While the team worked out the Ricketts family was out mingling with the fans at Fitch...It's not often you get the chance to tell an owner what needs to be done to win a World Series.

A-Ram, D Lee, and Soriano all look very fit and have rehabbed their various ailments, with Soriano saying he'll be 100 percent by opening day after having had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. The other new arrival was Starlin Castro the 19 year old ss phenom who had an outstanding AZ Fall League. I've always felt that Cubs fans are some of the most knowledgeable of any in baseball, they know Castro may be a star in the offing...there was a definite buzz in the stands today about this kid. I had a good chat with two long time Cubs fans and self-proclaimed baseball experts Doc Lawson and Harvey Brown...It was fun watching the Cubs while joining them in conversation about what the Cubs need to do to win the pennant.

One of the good humor guys in camp is Kevin Millar, who sure keeps things loose. It was interesting to see the grizzled vet Millar working in the group defensively with Cubs youngsters Josh Vitters and Starlin Castro...Castro and Vitters were 2 and 3 years old respectively when Millar broke into pro ball with the St. Paul Saints.

This is the kind of weather we expect during spring training in AZ, lots of sunshine and a nice day for baseball with a coolish high of 65 degrees. On my way home from Fitch I noticed the recent storm had left some snow visible on Four Peaks (pic).

Enjoy today's photos.


D Lee at the cage


Aramis takes a grounder


Lou watches


Tom Ricketts talks with fan at Fitch


Laura Ricketts at Fitch


Starlin Castro


Soriano


A-Ram


Starlin Castro


Baseball Brain trust Doc Lawson and Harvey Brown


Four Peaks after practice

Full Squad - Full Sun

It had rained intermittently for the past 3 days and curtailed much of the Cubs workouts at Fitch Park but the front has moved past and the 10 day forecast is looking good. Today is the official start of Cubs full-squad spring workouts, and from my vantage point here at the K-CUBS broadcasting tower in Mesa there is not a cloud in the sky. I'm looking forward to getting out in the sun and watching some Cubs baseball, besides I get bored just sitting around taking Sullivan's money in poker. Full report and photos later today.

Cubs Weather Report

As you most likely know it rained off and on here all day yesterday, the Cubs didn't make it out to the soaked Fitch Fields and were confined to hitting in the covered batting cages.

Today's forecast: Intermittent rain showers. Cloudy with temperatures steady near the mid 50s. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

It's not raining right now but plenty of threatening clouds, so we'll see what happens. Hoping we're getting this rain out of the way for a clear and sunny March.

Rain Check

Storm on the way...SW field prior to the start of practice, batting screens blown down

It's now partly cloudy with plenty of sun here in Mesa, not the case earlier as the Cubs practice this morning at Fitch Park was cut short by rain. When I arrived I could see the storm coming from the West past Center Street (photo), the temperature was in the 50's and gusty winds as well. The Cubs worked out for about an hour before the rain came and ended practice.

As you probably heard Ryan Theriot lost his salary arbitration and will have to get by on 2.6 million this year. Theriot and Fukudome are now in camp but didn't make it out to the fields before the rain. The Riot issued a challenge of sorts to Cubs kid SS prodigy Starlin Castro, "I am the shortstop and I have been for three years," Theriot said "I feel I've done a good job and he's going to have to come get it". Castro hasn't played above AA ball but tore it up in the AZ Fall League hitting .376 and is a top defensive talent. The 19 year old Castro is a non-roster invitee this spring and is one of only four position players yet to report, Lee, A-Ram, and Soriano the others.

The media is changing before our eyes, case in point Cubs beat writer Bruce Miles clicking photos on a digital camera for his blog. Bruce is outstanding in his Cubs coverage and writing for the DailyHerald but admitted in his blog that he's a work in progress as a photographer. Which is why today I offered Bruce my photography talents for his blog, he laughed and probably thought I was kidding. I wasn't, I shoot so many Cubs photos that go unseen, we would never have to duplicate pics from his blog to mine.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know much of what I write is satirical and tongue in cheek. However if you're new to the blog you should know that once the spring games get going I do focus more on what happens on the field and how the Cubs are progressing towards opening day...Using my baseball eyes as it were but always from my own peculiar perspective.

I had a request for some Kevin Millar photos and we aim to please at BOS, so here are a couple from the other day...As well as a few shots from this morning.


Bobby Scales takes a grounder before the rain


Josh Vitters third overall pick in the 2007 MLB draft, works today


DailyHerald's Bruce Miles works the mini-digi


Millar a couple days ago


Same day Millar and Z

Going Camping

Ted Lilly's MRI on the knee came out negative, which is great news. Other than that you might be thinking it's early in camp and not much to report... Heck, even Lou can't really shed much light on the line-up yet, it's all theory at this point. Competition for roster openings and starting spots hasn't really gotten underway either, but don't fret our crack BOS team (OK, me) have uncovered some intriguing stories at camp thus far.

Much of it revolves around weight loss or gain, Soto and Big Smaller Z have lost it, while Carlos Silva has...well...maintained it. Word around the net was that my Soto and Silva photos may have been photoshopped. No my friends I download then post-em, speaking of loads I'm posting another Silva photo from this morning, you be the judge of his size and conditioning.

Another breaking story from this morning concerns Angel Guzman. We know he had his knee scoped recently but that's not the story, Guzzy it appears has been having trouble with his golf swing. Not to worry Cubs fans all is not lost as Angel was able to get some one on one instruction today and appears ready to hit the links again...that is as soon as the knee is better.

Of course the Big story of camp thus far is a BOS exclusive. Last week I showed you photos of Jeff Samardzija with the long flowing hair. As I mentioned then, I thought he would be getting a trim when Lou caught a glimpse of it. Turns out Jeff didn't even allow Lou the chance to give him a hard time about his hair. Samardjiza showed up yesterday having had a significant reduction of his mane, he must really want that 5th starter spot.

Woong-Chun Cho (photo below) is a spring instructor with the Cubs this season. T


Silva in foreground


Guzman shows his backswing


Maybe it's the arm bend?


Make sure to keep the head down


Much better follow through


Samardzija earlier this week


Samardzija yesterday


Do I really need to comment on this?

Pitchers and Catchers!

What a fabulous day to begin official workouts for the Cubs pitchers and catchers, sunshine and temperatures in the 60's during practice. Fitch Park is a great venue to see the Cubs, 4 ball fields with a central area where fans can easily walk from field to field following favorite players as they move through drills. It's a very intimate environment, probably too intimate for players sometimes as they have to use the available public restroom or make a much longer trek back to the clubhouse. Of course one of the best parts of watching the Cubs at Fitch Park is it's free!

I know it's early in camp, in fact so early that position players don't have to report until next week. However as I tweeted today: I'm getting a very good feeling about Marlon Byrd. Not going to make any predictions just yet on how he'll do this season but it's just a positive gut feeling after watching him for about 4 days now. Byrd looks to be in phenomenal shape and last year at 30 years old he doubled his previous career season high HR total from 10 to 20....He definitely has the build of a power hitter. Byrd and new Cubs hitting Coach Rudy Jaramillo where together at Texas and during his 3 seasons with the Rangers, Byrd never hit lower than .283.

One of the important things that need to be accomplished in camp is getting the pitchers arms and legs in shape. In the early stages it's more about the legs and the pitchers did a lot of running today closing out practice...many laps on the warning track from foul pole to foul pole, followed by short drill runs. The day had warmed up by this time and I was standing by the players as the finished some of these runs...I can tell you that while certain guys are in better shape than others most of them were really feeling the intensity of it. That of course is a good thing right now.

After bp towards the end of practice new hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo called the position players together and gave them his run down on the 5 steps to effective hitting.. All the guys seemed very focused and attentive on what he was saying and as Rudy finished he said "I'm going to over and over this stuff". Then closed by telling the guys he's always available if they ever have any questions. I think Jaramillo is going to be a great addition to the Cubs staff.

I met many cool Cubs fans at Fitch today including Dan and his dad Garth originally from Iowa, Dave Bell from Watseka, IL and Elan Kane and his family who are here from New York and Palm Springs. To my surprise Elan said he reads my blog and had even seen my tweet from this morning about coming to the ballpark. During today's practice I saw Ryan Dempster toss a ball over the fence to a fan, I found out later that fan was Elan. That's a sweet souvie for a Cubs fan to take back to New York.

Enjoy today's BOS pics.


The SW Fitch field as it looked this morning before practice

Marlon Byrd


John Gaub looks on


Dempster


Cubs first round pick in 2008 Andrew Cashner


Sean Marshall


Hall of Famer Billy Williams watches bp


Mike Fontenot

Carlos Silva


Gorzelanny, Dempster, and Mitch Atkins


Dempster and Atkins starting to feel it


David Patton definitely feeling it

Today and Tomorrow

Today is the report date for all Cubs pitchers and catchers with the first official workout to begin tomorrow...yes it's nearly upon us, the start of the Cubs quest for the 2010 World Series title. As you know many of the players have been here in Mesa working out already with more arriving daily. The media showed up en masse today as well, and Fitch Park is starting to buzz...I already miss the quieter, gentler times of last week when I was the only person at Fitch with a camera.

Observations from today: Geo is gone, I don't know where he went but I did see some skinny dude impersonating him. Seriously, Soto looks great, the conditioning and loss of weight should really help him as he looks to bounce back this season. Big Z was giving Geo a bit of a hard time about the old larger Geo (photo below). Marlon Byrd is built like an NFL LB, 6' 245 lbs, the guy is ripped and comes to the Cubs with his not so secret weapon, hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Geo and Big Z were attempting to teach Kevin Millar some Spanish today with results that had all of them howling in laughter.

Boys of Spring got a nice mention in the Chicago Sun Times from Elliott Harris and his always fun Quick-Hits column. I don't know about you but I'm stoked for tomorrow...Pitchers and Catchers! I'll have a report and photos here after tomorrows practice.

Enjoy my photos from today's workout.


Non-Roster Invitee Kevin Millar


Slim Geo


Rudy Jaramillo in Cubs blue


Soto


Bench Coach Alan Trammell hits some infield


Z, Dempster, and Lilly looking for some action


Jaramillo learning his way around Fitch Park


Soto and Byrd


Blanco and Bigger Z giving Soto some grief about last year's weight


Geo looking fit

This Twitter Thing

All right I may as well come out and say, I was pretty skeptical about this whole Twitter thing...after all I was resistant to the cell phone for quite a while because I didn't want people to reach me anywhere at anytime. My thinking on Twitter was, what is the point of these 140 character statements? Just another way to chat with friends and talk in very brief terms on useless garbage...After all, do I really care if you got "way bent last night" or that "you're going to see Avatar for the 27th time"?

Of course then I started looking a bit deeper at Twitter and saw the particular applications and how it could be useful. From my unique vantage point as P.A. Announcer during spring training I could convey near real-time information to Cubs fans everywhere about the happenings on the Fitch Park Fields or what took place in bp before the game at Hohokam. Stuff that hard-core Cubs fans like me would love to know and can't hear anywhere else.

This is the start of year 6 for the Boys of Spring website and I'm proud of what this site offers as your Cubs Spring Training eyes and ears. I feel very lucky to have one of the best seats in the house at Hohokam during this kick-ass fun time of the year. I want to thank all of you for coming to BOS, I truly enjoy passing along my blogs, photos, videos, and now Tweets to all my Cub fan brethren! And thanks to those of you tweeting and re-tweeting about BOS!

Who knew that you could also learn plenty on Twitter, this tweet from the Iowa Cubs last night: Happy President's Day! Harry Truman (33rd Prez) was the 1st president to attend a night game of baseball on August 17, 1948 in Washington DC 7:48 AM Feb 15th

Go Cubs! T

President's Day at the Park

Pretty low key over at Fitch Park this morning as we're still a few days away from pitchers and catchers actual report day of Wednesday. However new Cub arrivals are filtering in to Fitch, including Koyie Hill who took some bp today.

The highlight of this mornings session was a monster blast during bp by none other than Big Z. I know it's only batting practice but the shear power of this batted ball was something to see...Carlos hit it over the 30 foot high batters eye in dead center, it's 400 feet just to that wall. You can see on the last two photos below, the look on Z's face, then the following photo of where he hit it.

Below are some of my photos I shot this morning...as far as I know BOS is the only place on the internet that is giving you pics of what's going on right now at Cubs camp...pre-camp if you will. Enjoy - T


Fitch Park has one concession window, not open yet.


Koyie Hill during today's batting practice


Big Z signs


Tom Gorzelanny


Jeff Stevens


Gorzy


Smarge


Serious Sam Fuld


Z


Hill


David Patton


Smarge


Tim Buss throws bp


Z and Colvin check out Z's monster shot


Need a higher wall to keep Z from hitting it out

We got Sunshine and Snow

I was told few if any Cubs players would be out at Fitch today, so that gave me a chance to enjoy the abundant sunshine and a high temp of 75 degrees. It is near perfect weather here in the Valley of the Sun. Up north and east in the AZ mountains the high temps would be in the 40's and in honor of the Winter Olympics I could go snowboarding or skiing. A few hours drive from the valley you can reach Sunrise Park or Arizona Snowbowl ski resorts. Sunrise located in the White Mountains has between 70 and 103 inches of snow right now and Snowbowl just north of Flagstaff has had 243 inches of snow so far this season.

However, Usery Mountain Park is only about 10 minutes from my house (20 minutes from Hohokam Stadium). The park offers 30 miles of spectacular trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Hiking, being closer and cheaper, won out.

While driving into the park and looking for a good trail to hike...I saw a sign, (cue angelic music) and knew the choice was already made for me. Merkle Trail, was it coincidence or fate? For those of you who don't know or aren't familiar with the name Merkle check it out on Wikipedia. The incident known as "Merkle's Boner", (obviously the lexicon of the day has changed) is part of baseball lore. Suffice it to say without this "bonehead" play by N.Y. Giant Fred Merkle most likely the Cubs don't win the World Series in 1908. I thought about titling this blog "Valentine's Day Boner", but figured that may be taken the wrong way.

At any rate it was a great hike and fun to be outside on a fabulous day, enjoy the photos.

Cubs Pitchers and Catchers report on Wednesday with scheduled first workout on Thursday...spring training is upon us!






Prickly Pear with Superstition Mountains behind


Downtown Phoenix buildings in background


No getting lost with signs like this


Superstition Mountains as seen from Usery Park

The Hair and LaHair

The Eagle has landed, with the arrival of the Cubs equipment truck this morning at Fitch Park the Cubs will be equipped and ready to open training camp next week. Today is another fabulous dry sunny day here in Mesa and the early Cubs arrivals took advantage of the spectacular conditions.

I'd heard Jeff Samardzija was in town, today I saw him and snagged a few pics. Can't say much about Jeff's arm yet as I only saw him do a little long toss but his hair was in fine form. Smarge has let it grow out some and I'm guessing it will be trimmed back a bit when Lou gets here and starts ribbing him about it.

Notes from today's informal workout: It was apparent how much weight and muscle Tyler Covin had gained when I stood next to him...I asked him how many pounds he put on from last year, he said 25...that's right 25! Colvin told me he'd been working out with Tim Buss (Cubs Strength and Conditioning Coordinator) all off season and it paid off. Tyler is still listed on the Cubs roster at 190lbs, that will change soon.

As I mentioned yesterday Carlos Zambrano is in great physical shape and looks to be on a mission to erase a few bad memories from last years injury filled season. Z hit some fungos to the other pitchers early in the practice and later during some BP snapped a bat over his knee. He still has the fire and competitive intensity even in pre-camp workouts. I tweeted about Z breaking the bat over his knee earlier today when it happened, those are the type of first hand observations I will be sending out on twitter this spring.

Bryan LaHair who the Cubs picked up as a minor league free agent and is a Non-Roster invitee to camp this spring was pounding the ball over Center Street today...I mean bombs. The 27 year old LaHair had been with the Mariners since they drafted him in 2002 and last year he had 26 HR's and 85 RBI's while batting .289 in AAA. The Cubs roster lists the left-handed hitter at 6'5" 220lbs, I guarantee he weighs at least 240. He's a first baseman, so not a lot of room available but he's got some serious power. One of the photos below is where he hit a ball and it was still going strong when it hit the palm fronds, I've got the spot circled.

Enjoy the photos!

Sweet!


Jeff Samardzija


Randy Wells


Beefed up Colvin


Now cluck like a chicken


Z ready to fungo


You'll move when I say to move


Z-Batsman


The Big LaHair


LaHair's shot was still going when it hit here


Smarge

BOS Exclusive - First Look at Cubs

The photos below are that rarest of breeds, the exclusive and world wide first look at the 2010 Chicago Cubs in action (at least some of them)...Much like the exclusive first photos I shot of Angelina Jolie's 15th adopted child and Gary Coleman's birthday romp at the beach with Ivana Trump these will be sure to garner big bucks. However, as a thank you to all who come back every spring to the Boys of Spring website I'm posting them here before they go to TMZ and OMG.

Spring training may not have officially started yet (Pitchers and Catchers report Feb. 17) but you wouldn't know it down at Fitch Park here in Mesa. Many Cubs have come in early to start working out, those I saw today were Carlos Zambrano, Sean Marshall, Tom Gorzelanny, John Grabow, David Wells, Sam Fuld, and Tyler Colvin and a host of Cubs minor leaguers.

My apologies to those of you in Chicago and the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic States, and anywhere else that's had a tough winter but it's absolutely perfect baseball weather here in the Valley of the Sun. Our ten day forecast shows sunshine and high temps between 70-75, this is the payoff for the AZ summer heat...The months of November through April are the reason we live or snowbird here.

My Notes from today: Big Z looks to be in the best shape I've ever seen coming into camp. Tyler Colvin is noticeably larger and added some muscle, I'm guessing at least 10 lbs, but I'll ask him. Z was taking some early BP and as usual was crushing the ball; I swear he could have made the Babe Ruthian change from pitcher to position player if he started a few years back. After the early rounds of BP Tyler Colvin and Sean Marshall took a break and tossed the pigskin around...lingering after effects of the recent Super Bowl no doubt. The Cubs players are working without coaches this week but strength and conditioning coordinator Tim Buss is overseeing and keeping the guys in line...or maybe they're keeping Bussy in line, not sure which.

Boys of Spring is your place for Chicago Cubs spring training, I'll also be tweeting this spring or is it twittering? Lingo aside, it should be interesting.

Go Cubs! T


Grabow and Wells


Sean Marshall gettin a grip


Big Z in cage


In shape and ready


Marshall deals

Colvin the QB


Z and Colvin having some fun


Colvin can't make the shirt basket catch