Hendry wants more from his stars in '10

Cubs GM Jim Hendry did not mince words Friday when asked what must occur for the 2010 Cubs to win their division.

"We have to have our best players play like they're our best players, and that's something they didn't do that last year,'' Hendry said in a quiet moment amid the insanity of the Cubs Convention. "We had five guys have terrible years all in the same year at the same time, and you don't figure that to happen, but it sure happened to us.''

One of them was Carlos Zambrano, and there doesn't seem to be any way around the fact that the Cubs will fail to reach the postseason again this year if Zambrano doesn't start earning his $18 million salary.

"It would be huge for us if he does what he's capable of doing, which is 18-20 wins with a lot of innings and a lot of quality starts,'' Hendry said. "The good thing is he's upset about it. He knows it wasn't a good year and he says he's mad about it.

"He's also in better shape than I've seen him, so that's a real good sign.''

Zambrano admitted to being disappointed in himself, and even angry that he didn't do his job in 2009.

"I'm mad about it. I let the team down,'' Zambrano said. "I have to win a lot of games this year and help my team more than last year.''

If there was a common theme among the players, it was the anger of failing to deliver last year.

"Every guy I talk to says the same thing. We're mad about it,'' said starter Ted Lilly, who's recovering from shoulder surgery. "We let it get away from us last year when it was right there for us.''

"They're disgusted,'' Hendry said. "I'm glad. They should be disgusted. They're also hungry. I think it's a great sign.''

That won't be quite enough.

"We know nobody's going to give us anything,'' Hendry said. "But at least they know they were good enough to win last year and didn't. Maybe it's not a bad thing if people don't pick us this year and that (bleeps) them off, too.''

Catching on

The best news of all Friday was that Geovany Soto looked about 40 pounds lighter than when he returned from the WBC last spring.

If the Cubs get some version of Soto that more closely resembles the Soto of 2008, that would be a big boost for the 2010 team.

"The WBC probably wasn't the best thing for him, but there's a lot of pressure on these guys to play for their home countries,'' said Cubs farm director Oneri Fleita. "Geo's also not the first young player to think it's easy after having such a great first season.

"That's part of the learning process and I think you'll see a different guy this year.''

Florida or bust

The head of the Naples delegation, Craig Bouchard, spent several hours with the Ricketts family Friday afternoon at the Hilton downtown and seemed awfully optimistic for a guy that had no chance to get the Cubs just a few months ago.

"I think it's no worse than 50-50, and maybe a lot better than that,'' Bouchard said. "It was zero when we started last year and we've come a very long way. I had a very good feeling leaving our meeting today.''

Talk around the Cubs organization is that the decision on spring training will come down by the middle of next week, and there are plenty of Arizona fans at Clark and Addison who believe the decision is tilting toward Florida.

Hall of Famer

Billy Williams knows what it's like to wait a long time for the call from Cooperstown, but he said Andre Dawson won't have to feel that agony ever again.

"We both had to sit around and wonder about it for a few years, but once it happens, it feels like you got in the first year of eligibility,'' Williams said. "He's going to have himself a great time, plus he's the only (player) going in this year, so he's going to get a lot of attention.''

Pitching in

The Cubs believe starter Ted Lilly will be ready to pitch by the beginning of April, but probably won't use him until the middle of the month when they need a fifth starter.

The stat

According to one Cubs employee, Milton Bradley was the worst hitter in the National League last year with a runner on third and less than two outs.

Best suggestion

From a Cubs player: Now that Greg Maddux has joined the front office, maybe he can convince close pal John Smoltz to sign on as a fifth starter or reliever.

And finally-

E-mailer John Flynn: "Using his All-Star Game policy as a guide, Bud Selig announced today that if Canada beats the U.S. in hockey in the upcoming Olympics, Andre Dawson will wear an Expos cap in the Hall of Fame.''

brozner@dailyherald.com