Major League Baseball
Cactus League notebook: Johnson has a point to prove

By Seattle Times news services

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MESA, Ariz. — A couple of Diamondbacks rookies trying to make the majors this spring, Tim Olson and Chad Tracy, spent the offseason working out at Fischer Sports Physical Therapy and Conditioning in Phoenix. But the motivated youngsters could not outwork the old guy across the room: Randy Johnson.

"At 40 years old," trainer Brett Fischer said, "he's even hungrier now than he was."

Curt Schilling is now in Boston. And although there is no reason to expect Brandon Webb to suffer a sophomore slump, he still is only a second-year big-leaguer. So Arizona needs Johnson to pitch like an ace.

But this year, that is not a given. Johnson's 2003 season was wrecked by problems with his right (landing) knee. Virtually all the cartilage wore off the joint, and by May he needed surgery to remove the loose pieces.

Johnson — who went into last season having won four straight NL Cy Young Awards — returned in late July, and was 6-8 with a 4.26 earned-run average in 18 starts.

"The first four years (with Arizona) I was feeding off what transpired the year previous," he said last week. "This year is a year of coming back. No matter what kind of year I have, my main objective is just to go out and throw like I've thrown in the past. That's my mentality right now, that's what motivates me this offseason. That's definitely my mentality.

"There's a lot of fire in me to prove to myself I'm still capable of doing those things."

Notes

 
• As with any bad hangover, the Chicago Cubs needed some time to recover from their collapse in the playoffs.

They were devastated to get within five outs of the World Series and still lose it all, and the hurt was so bad it was almost a physical pain.

"We all think about what happened in the postseason," shortstop Alex Gonzalez said. "That's life."

But that's the beautiful thing about baseball, every spring brings a new season.

"I already forgot 2003," manager Dusty Baker said. "You can't live the present and the future thinking about the past."

• David Wells reported to spring training with the San Diego Padres and promised not to do too much too soon.

"You don't want to try to make the team the first day," said the 40-year-old Wells, who signed as a free agent with his hometown Padres on Dec. 31.

Wells is coming off his second back surgery in two years, but the left-hander was healthy enough to pass a physical. But the Padres don't have him slated to throw off the mound until March 2 or pitch in a spring game until the middle of the month.

Such a timetable will give Wells only a few exhibition tuneups before he's scheduled to make his first regular-season start April 8 in the opener at new Petco Park.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company