Rick Renteria's tenure as a Cub skipper came out pretty much as expected here. His Cubs lost in front of a record spring training crowd.
Some of the interesting twists from day one:
He used Emilio Bonifacio as lead off hitter, then batted Luis Valbuena second then Starlin Castro in the third position. Rizzo batted clean up, followed by Lake in CF. It would seem that Renteria was trying to protect each hitter at the top of the line up, by going righty lefty, etc. Schierholtz did not play RF (McDonald did). So this is not the opening day line up, per se.
Despite Bonifacio leading off, Renteria told the press that Darwin Barney was his starting second baseman. That is a mistake. Barney, coming off a bad year, should not be given his starting job. He should earn it. In fact, every position should be an open competition.
Renteria believes he can use Bonifacio's versatility at multiple positions to keep him in the line up, which foreshadows possible triple platoons at some postions.
The new Cubs bullpen was suspect. Wesley Wright and Jose Veras were not very good. And Arodys Vizcaino struggled in an intrasquad game, which led Renteria to state that the Cubs are going to go real slow with Vizcaino. However, this is year three of rehab for Vizcaino, which is time to prove a place or cut bait. Kyuji Fujikawa threw a second bullpen session, but it still seems he will not be ready until June.
Starter Jeff Samardzija was over amped at the start, walking the first batter on four pitches. But he settled down and threw two innings. It appears that Samardzija himself must think he is showcasing his talent this spring.
