Cubs and Cotts expecting a smoother ride this year

There's a lot riding on this spring training for Neal Cotts.

Cotts has driven down that road before, and it has usually been full of potholes and speed bumps.

If there was ever a time for that road to smooth out, it's now - for both Cotts and the Cubs.

As spring training opened, Cotts found himself as the only left-handed reliever with a spot on the club seemingly assured. Scott Eyre is long gone. Sean Marshall has a leg up on the fifth starter's spot. Perhaps the only real competition for Cotts in the bullpen derby is Mike Stanton, a 41-year-old nonroster invitee who didn't even pitch in the big leagues last year.

It's all yours, Neal Cotts.

"I'm going to go in here and compete," the low-key Cotts said earlier this week after finishing his throwing in Mesa, Ariz. "There are a lot of pitchers. Go in there and do my best."

There are some lefties in camp, but not one, like Cotts, with a job to lose.

Cotts, who turns 29 on March 25, is looking to pitch a full major-league season for the first time since 2006, when he worked in 70 games out of the pen for the White Sox. After that season, the Sox traded him to the Cubs for reliever David Aardsma.

At first, the trade looked like it helped neither team much, as both pitchers found themselves in the minor leagues. Cotts opened the '07 season with the Cubs, but found himself demoted to Class AAA Iowa on May 20, where the Cubs flirted with the idea of making him a starter. Cotts didn't see the big leagues again that season, something Cubs general manager Jim Hendry says now he has misgivings about.

Last year, Cotts began the season at Iowa, working in 19 games before getting called up, to stay this time, on May 29.

"I felt there were some bumps here and there, a couple games," Cotts said of his first two years with the Cubs. "Overall, I think I made the most of my time up there.

"I went down there (to Iowa), and I did my job and worked at it. It's in the past. It has no bearing on what goes on now. It's not a big deal. I have to move forward."

In 50 games with the big club last year, Cotts was 0-2 with a 4.29 ERA. With a seemingly livelier fastball, he struck out 43 in 352/3 innings and had a WHIP (walks plus hits per 1 inning pitched) of 1.43. His lefty-right splits were similar, with lefties hitting .269 against him and righties .263.

"He got his velocity back," said Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild. "Relievers, periodically, will go through that. The velocity was one of the big things with him. The breaking ball got a little bit better. Those are things we continue to work on.

"He's always been aggressive. His arm strength came back to almost where it was a couple years before."

A subtle shift on the pitching rubber also helped.

"Last year, I changed sides of the mound," he said. "I did that right before spring broke. I got sent to Iowa to begin with, and I figured I had nothing to lose. So I tried switching sides, and it seemed to help a little bit."

Cotts is a key because one question surrounding the 2009 Cubs is their depth, particularly from the left side of the pen. If Marshall wins the No. 5 starting job, Cotts will be the only left-handed reliever, if things go as planned this spring.

"Invariably, there are always one or two right-handers that you can use as left-handers," said manager Lou Piniella. "They get left-handers out easier than right-handed hitters. But we brought quite a few - Stanton to name one - and a few others that we're going to give a chance to here in the spring.

"We're not going to make room for a second lefty just to have another lefty in the bullpen, unless it's Marshall. And truthfully, with Marshall, I like him in the rotation. We'll see how that works out. Those are our plans going in."

For Cotts, his plan is to put together one good year and do it all at the major-league level.

"I think I've grown in the last two years," he said. "You never want to get demoted and sent down. It gives you a chance to reflect on some things, turn the page and work on some different things. Up here, in the big leagues, you're not going to work on things. You're going to perform. That's pretty much the name of the game."