With spring ahead, Cubs try to put last season behind

MESA, Ariz. - Pitchers and catchers "reported" for spring training and then some Wednesday.

Usually, reporting day is a one of handshaking and getting lockers set up, but there was little time for that Wednesday. There was work to do.

Pitchers, catchers and quite a few position players hit the Fitch Park fields to work out one day before the first official day of practices.

Maybe it was boredom from winter. Or maybe it was the bad taste left over from last year's failure to make the playoffs.

"I would hope that failure is a major motivator, and I would say that us, just my opinion, not getting to the playoffs, is considered failure," said pitcher Ted Lilly. "We've got a lot of talent and expect that (success) of ourselves. You take that situation, and I think a lot of the guys have been motivated by it, and success will do the same thing because it tastes real good and you want to continue to be a part of that."

Manager Lou Piniella acknowledged the large turnout and got right to the point in stating his goal for 2010.

"The message is, 'Let's get back on top,'" Piniella said. "The message is we finished second in this division last year with a lot of things that went wrong for us. The message is, 'Let's work hard. Let's get ready for a championship season. And let's add another 10 to 12 wins to our total of last year and give ourselves a chance at postseason."

General manager Jim Hendry, who is definitely on the hot seat after the Cubs' first postseason absence since 2006, said he noticed the get-to-work attitude at last month's Cubs convention.

"As we all know, attitude and how you go about your business has a lot to do with how successful you are," Hendry said. "Lou and I feel good about the attitude they're bringing to the table coming into camp."

Of course, February is the feel-good month for everybody in baseball. How things play out from April to October will tell everybody whether the optimism was warranted.

Not everybody shares the feelings of these happy Cubs campers. Many statistical projections have the Cubs winning about the same amount of games they did last year (83), and that won't get it done in the National League Central.

"That's good," Piniella said of the seemingly lowered expectations. "Let somebody else handle that part of it. We've done some really nice things here over the winter. We didn't need a major overhaul. All we needed was some fine-tuning, and that's exactly what Jim did this winter, brought in some nice people in here.

"We've got more depth. We've got some work to do with our pitching. That's an area where we're going to have to work hard here in spring training."

The aforementioned Lilly likely will miss at least the first two weeks of the season as he rehabs from minor surgery on his pitching shoulder.

Piniella, however, likes his lineup, which adds center fielder Marlon Byrd and fourth outfielder Xavier Nady, who is recovering from elbow surgery. Byrd has been in camp for some time working with new hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who mans his post behind the batting cage.

Although he acknowledged pitching will be an early key for the Cubs, Piniella pointed to the overall depth of this year's club.

"I like our offense," he said. "We've got some nice pieces in place here. We're going to have a little more depth, a little more experience. I think we're going to be productive, offensively. Pitching wise, whenever Lilly's ready, we've got to get him going. That's a big key for us."

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