Spring Training Miscellany: Cubs 4, Dodgers 0 – Butler Looks Good, Lester’s Day at the Back Fields, More

The Cubs took a lead into the late innings of this one … and still won! Hey, this time it was the Cubs’ youngsters doing the late scoring, as the Cubs won 4-0 over the Dodgers.

  • Eddie Butler looked pretty good today, even setting aside the excellent results (4 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 4 K, 0 BB). He did give up a little bit more air contact than you might want to see, but the velocity was good and there was clearly some solid sink on his two-seamer. Butler is not a serious threat to crack the Opening Day roster without a rash of injuries, but he will absolutely have an opportunity to work himself into the rotation at some point this year if starts are needed and he’s looking good at AAA Iowa.
  • Justin Grimm pitched another clean inning in relief of Butler, continuing his perfect spring.
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  • Caleb Smith finished the game off with a couple scoreless innings, as he makes his case to be the lefty in the bullpen when camp breaks. If Brian Duensing and Jack Leathersich are not 100% by then, there’s a good chance it will be Smith.
  • Ian Happ had his obligatory extra-base hit in this one (a double), and added a couple walks. And his swing is still beautiful.
  • Yasiel Puig was ejected and waved goodbye:
  • I watched Jon Lester’s outing at the back fields today, and it was apparent that he was not there to dominate his younger organizational teammates. Instead, Lester was getting in his work in a controlled environment, and the results – which included tons of very loud, deep contact. Sure enough, after the outing, he told CBS that he was specifically working on his fastball up in the zone, and the Cubs prospects knew it: “I am just trying not to die out there.” He did add that he missed his spots a lot today, and will continue to work. On the balance, though, I did not see anything that concerned me in the least. Veteran getting in his work.
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  • A couple of the big shots off of Lester:
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  • Got to see this guy today, which was nice:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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