4 takeaways from Chicago Cubs camp, including Jon Lester’s plan for the MLB restart and the new ‘Skinny Rizz’
Four takeaways from the Cubs’ workout day on Saturday at Wrigley Field:
1. Another mini-renovation at Wrigley Field has begun.
The Cubs are constructing dugout extensions on both sides of the field, building shelters with wooden roofs over seating sections adjacent to the dugouts.
With social distancing regulations in place and rosters increased to 30 to start the season, more room was needed to avoid players sitting in the box seats.
“That was a concern of ours,” manager David Ross said. “Sitting on a bench is way different than sitting in an actual seat in the stands. You’re going to want to be active. You’re going to want to be able to get up and move around. You’re going to want to go down to the cage and take some swings.
“So (it’s) just a little bit closer to the actual dugout, and to help with the energy in the dugout, and (for) rooting guys on.”
Players also have “nervous energy,” Ross said, so it’s difficult for some to just sit for long spells in the same place.
2. Jon Lester will throw in a game Sunday, the last of the Cubs’ starters to do so.
The 36-year-old Jon Lester said Saturday he knows his body well, so he trained to be ready for the restart without building his arm up too quickly. Lester added that he worked out in the weight room during the shutdown and kept his left “arm moving,” while keeping “my ears to the ground” to know when it was time to ramp it up.
“I had a hard time diving into going in and trying to throw bullpens, and trying to throw innings and simulate that,” he said of the shutdown. “I figured that if I kept my body in shape and I kept my arm going that I would be fine when I got to this stage, that it would be little slower.
“I feel like we’ve done that. I feel like I’m in a good place.”
Ross said Lester doesn’t vary from his routine and will be ready to go, adding “his resume speaks for itself.”
Lester is expected to throw two innings in Sunday night’s game, then maintain his five-day routine. That tentatively puts him on schedule to start the third game of the opening series against the Brewers on July 26 at Wrigley Field. Ross has yet to announce his rotation plan, but it looks like Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks and Lester will go in order against Milwaukee.
3. There are no concerns about a lack of power from “Skinny Rizz.”
Anthony Rizzo, who is now being referred to as “Skinny Rizz” after a significant weight loss, has not played in the intrasquad games and scrimmages this week due to back soreness. But he worked out at first Saturday, and Ross said he will face live pitching “soon.”
Rizzo had no home runs in 24 at-bats during spring training in Mesa, Ariz., before starting his new weight training regime at home in Florida. Asked if the pop was still there, hitting coach Anthony Iapoce replied it was the same old Rizzo.
“Skinny Rizz, Big Rizz, Strong Rizz, Bad Ankle Rizz, he’s still got power,” Iapoce said. “Until he tells you he doesn’t, and the monsters from ‘Space Jam’ took it like they did last year.”
Rizzo was not available to confirm Iapoce’s story.
4. The Cubs’ intrasquad games aren’t quite the same as Cactus League.
Ross admitted playing opposing teams is “beneficial” because “the intensity ramps up a little more.” But he also has discovered some positives in the scrimmages, instrasquad and simulated games at Wrigley.
“There’s a benefit to feedback,” he said. “I can ask Kyle Schwarber, ‘How does Craig Kimbrel look?’ I can ask Kris Bryant, ‘How does (Rowan) Wick look?’… There’s no secret when we get ready to kick this thing off, who is swinging the bat the best is probably going to get a little more leeway in areas, and everybody on the field sees who is swinging the bat well.”
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