The Hair and LaHair

The Eagle has landed, with the arrival of the Cubs equipment truck this morning at Fitch Park the Cubs will be equipped and ready to open training camp next week. Today is another fabulous dry sunny day here in Mesa and the early Cubs arrivals took advantage of the spectacular conditions.

I’d heard Jeff Samardzija was in town, today I saw him and snagged a few pics. Can’t say much about Jeff’s arm yet as I only saw him do a little long toss but his hair was in fine form. Smarge has let it grow out some and I’m guessing it will be trimmed back a bit when Lou gets here and starts ribbing him about it.

Notes from today’s informal workout: It was apparent how much weight and muscle Tyler Covin had gained when I stood next to him…I asked him how many pounds he put on from last year, he said 25…that’s right 25! Colvin told me he’d been working out with Tim Buss (Cubs Strength and Conditioning Coordinator) all off season and it paid off. Tyler is still listed on the Cubs roster at 190lbs, that will change soon.

As I mentioned yesterday Carlos Zambrano is in great physical shape and looks to be on a mission to erase a few bad memories from last years injury filled season. Z hit some fungos to the other pitchers early in the practice and later during some BP snapped a bat over his knee. He still has the fire and competitive intensity even in pre-camp workouts. I tweeted about Z breaking the bat over his knee earlier today when it happened, those are the type of first hand observations I will be sending out on twitter this spring.

Bryan LaHair who the Cubs picked up as a minor league free agent and is a Non-Roster invitee to camp this spring was pounding the ball over Center Street today…I mean bombs. The 27 year old LaHair had been with the Mariners since they drafted him in 2002 and last year he had 26 HR’s and 85 RBI’s while batting .289 in AAA. The Cubs roster lists the left-handed hitter at 6’5″ 220lbs, I guarantee he weighs at least 240. He’s a first baseman, so not a lot of room available but he’s got some serious power. One of the photos below is where he hit a ball and it was still going strong when it hit the palm fronds, I’ve got the spot circled.

Enjoy the photos!

Sweet!

Jeff Samardzija

Randy Wells

Beefed up Colvin

Now cluck like a chicken

Z ready to fungo

You’ll move when I say to move

Z-Batsman

The Big LaHair

LaHair’s shot was still going when it hit here

Smarge