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The Chicago Cubs Yu Darvish made his first start of the spring on Tuesday. Jon Lester knows what the team needs from him this season and more in today’s Morning Marquee.
It seems so long ago that Chicago Cubs‘ fans (some of them) we’re excited to see Yu Darvish make his first start for the Cubs. Forty innings later, his season was over. It’s been a long season of rehab for Darvish, and yesterday he got back on the mound for the first time. The results were mixed, but his velocity was good, and he had no pain after throwing, which is good news for his first start of the spring.
Cubs’ Jon Lester is one of the few of the ‘old school’ guys left in the league. He doesn’t embrace the metrics. He wants his 200 innings because he’s a starter, and starters are there to eat up innings. And while at age 35, he doesn’t believe he’s slipping, or ‘over the hill,’ as some have presumed. He’s using all of that as motivation for this season — the same as Kris Bryant. Maybe people should stop riling up the Cubs. It might not end well for them.
The Cubs made some additions this winter, but none like they have in the past few years. Does this lack of significant talent being added mean the team will have a sub-par season because of it? Far from it, as the Cubs feel they already have the talent in place. Health is a critical facet of success in baseball. Last year, the Cubs were on the wrong end of that. Adding more players and more money to the payroll wasn’t going to fix that.
Cubs on Twitter
https://twitter.com/realcubsinsider/status/1100508731870085120
New Yu: 'I'm smiling more than I have the last seven years,' says #Cubs' Darvish https://t.co/iet8SH5rgj via @suntimes
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) February 27, 2019
For what it’s worth, my source who is close to Bryce Harper tells me #Dodgers and #Cubs were 1st choices all along and he prefers not to sign with #Phillies. I’ve been hearing all winter that Harper does not want to play for Gabe Kapler due to analytics and quirky personality
— Randy Miller (@RandyJMiller) February 26, 2019
These and other stories you might have missed:
‘Cubs’ Darvish makes first start of the spring’ – Cubbies Crib
‘Lester knows what the team needs from him’ – Cubbies Crib
‘Does no significant signing equal a bad season?’ – Cubbies Crib
‘MLB makes offer to Union of rule changes’ – Cubs Insider
‘Players, teams affected by Arenado deal’ – MLB.com
Be sure to check back later today for more Cubs news and analysis! And follow us on our Twitter @CubbiesCrib, like our Facebook page for more Cubs conversation! And be sure to check out our Climbing the Ivy Podcast each week as we cover even more Cubs baseball!