<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Position players don't have to report to the Cubs' camp until Tuesday, but Bradley took some swings with the other early arrivals, such as Ryan Theriot, Reed Johnson, So Taguchi and Jason Dubois. A switch-hitter, Bradley batted from the right side in his first turn in the cage, then flipped to the left for his next, then back to his right.
"I'm just glad I didn't swing and miss and embarrass myself," he said.
There are no problems with his right knee, which he sprained in 2006, and he doesn't welcome inquiries about it.
"This should be the last question I answer about my knee," he said. "It's been a year, two years, whatever. I'm fine. I feel I could've played last year [with Texas]. They just wanted me to [be the designated hitter] because they had enough guys who could play in the field."
He won't have that option with the Cubs. Bradley will be patrolling right field, playing for the two-time National League champions. He's looking for a three-peat.
"This is the first time I've come to a team that's expected to win," he said. "Every other team I've been on, it's, 'Oh, you're slated to finish in third place, what do you think about that?' Coming here, expecting to win, just a lot of expectations and what not, it's different, so it's a different feeling. You're not coming in here hoping to compete. You're coming in here expecting to win."
He got a taste of that at the Cubs Convention in January.
"That was a 'nice fest,'" Bradley said. "I've never run into that many nice people in one place. It's welcome. It helps the transition for me when you're dealing with people who are nice and appreciative and all for you and in your corner. It hasn't always been that way."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"It's the Cubs -- who wouldn't want to play for the Cubs?" Bradley said. "They already have a great team in place. I'm coming in, trying to add something to that. They haven't won in 100 years. You come in and you know you have that, I guess you call it 'pressure' -- that's the media word, 'pressure' -- it's not really like that.
"I just want to be on a team that's going to win. That's all I want to do. Playing at home [stinks] if you're not winning. The Cubs, there's a good team here and we're going to win. I want to be a part of that."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Reed Johnson was looking for some new pants on Sunday.
The Cubs outfielder decided to change his eating habits this offseason and dropped about 14 pounds. He's amazed at how much better he feels physically and mentally.
"If you lose the 11, 15 pounds and then you put on a 15-pound weight vest, you realize how much tougher it can be on your body," he said Sunday.
Johnson wasn't told to drop the pounds. But he's had back problems in the past and chose to watch his intake in hopes of preventing any more issues. No more greasy cheeseburgers on his menu. In-N-Out burgers are out, salads with chicken are in.
"I feel like I got to the point where I've conditioned my body to where I don't have to eat as much anymore," he said. "When I first got home, I could eat a bean and cheese burrito and whatever, and I'd say, 'Man, I could eat more after this.' Now I go and have something to eat and I'm full and satisfied, and you condition your body to eat better and eat less."
A kinesiology major at Cal State Fullerton, he knew that less weight would be less strain on his back. It can only help.
"If you take on a bigger workload, whether it's the middle of Spring Training or halfway through the season, it's harder to lose weight," he said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"Over the summer, I started getting the itch again," he said. "More than anything else, I still feel like I can do this. I don't have as good a stuff as I did six or seven years ago, but there's no doubt in my mind that I can do this."
In 2007, he was 1-3 with a 5.93 ERA in 69 games. Stanton has a career 3.92 ERA in the big leagues, appearing in more than 1,000 games. He isn't ready to call it quits, although Stanton admits he did think about retiring.
"Early, after the Reds let me go, there was some thought, 'I don't need this, I don't need this frustration,'" he said. "Then your competitive juices start stirring again. It's hard to walk away. First, you don't get to do it on your own terms and you still think you have something in the tank. My numbers were a lot worse than I pitched."
In six of his games last season, he gave up 19 earned runs. That's six out of 69 games.
"The bulk of the work was a lot better than the numbers," he said.
In a perfect world, people would prefer to walk away on their own terms. Stanton has heard that.
"Even if it's not literally on my own terms, but if it's a situation you can accept," he said. "That's not the reason I'm here -- I'm here because I know I can still pitch and I know I can help this team get by the first round."
Cubs manager Lou Piniella isn't counting Stanton out of the equation.
"He told me yesterday he planned on battling for a job," Piniella said Sunday. "We'll give him the opportunity."
Stanton is confident.
"Hopefully, I'll throw the ball well enough and make the team, and we'll go from there," he said. "I know the situation. I also know I can do this."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
From a few articles on
Cubs.com
