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MESA, Ariz. -- When new Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum finally sets his Opening Day lineup he plans to be committed to it.

Sveum said Wednesday that he has no intention of platooning players, or at least that’s his goal when camp breaks during the first week of April.

Sveum was being asked about new third baseman Ian Stewart specifically when he revealed his desire for no platoons.

“[Playing time] is all left up to them and how they are doing at the time,” Sveum said. “But there is no platoon situation in mind for anybody at all.”

So while the left-handed hitting Stewart plays the bulk of the time at third base, he might get some days off against left-handers to give Jeff Baker some playing time. Baker can also give a break to Bryan LaHair, who is expected to start the season as the Opening Day first baseman.

Presumably the desire for no platoons also holds true at second base where there are three candidates for the job. Right-handed hitting Darwin Barney will battle with left-handed hitters Adrian Cardenas and Blake DeWitt for the job.

MESA, Ariz. -- Tony Campana is pretty certain who is the favorite in the first ever Cubs bunt contest.

“I think I am,” Campana said before heading off to take another round of batting practice Wednesday afternoon.

Campana’s teammates aren’t so sure. The speedy outfielder was teased, with teammates letting him know that in this type of contest, his speed can’t save him.

Not only was he ribbed about being a bad bunter who can outrun his mistakes, he was also told that this is about as close as he’s going to get to a home run hitting contest.

Campana soaked it all in, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he talked about the teaching tool/contest that new manager Dale Sveum has put together.

Because there are 63 players in camp, Sveum was added to the bunt tournament field to make it an even 64. When Chris Carpenter was moved to the Boston Red Sox as compensation for Theo Epstein, strength coordinator Tim Buss was added to the field.

The bunt tournament gets underway Thursday, and Sveum estimated that it could take up to two weeks to complete. Indications are that there could be as much as $50 per player placed into the pot for the winner, but players haven’t been so forthcoming with that information.

Sveum is the mastermind of the unique event. It is something he came up with and always wanted to use on the big-level if he ever got the chance to manage.

“A lot of guys lived on the spring training facility in Bradenton (Fla.) so after the workouts we kind of started something,” Sveum said about his days as a minor league manager in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. “I always remembered it and wanted to do something when I took over managing, if I ever managed.

“I thought it would be fun for the team, break things up a little bit and have fun with it. It will get fun especially as it goes on and we get to the Sweet 16.”

So far it has served a purpose far greater than fun. Campana said that in his brief time around big-league spring camps he has never witnessed so many players practicing their bunting.

MESA, Ariz. -- Left-handed reliever John Gaub, who has been out since spring training began because of back spasms, is expected to take part in his first workout Thursday.

Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Gaub will definitely take part in the team's bunting contest and will probably just go through a light workout. He likely won’t start participating in a full bullpen session until later in the week.

Gaub, who started having back spasms after lifting weights, is among a group left-handers in a battle for what appears to be two spots in the bullpen for lefties. Trever Miller and James Russell appear to be the favorites in that battle with Gaub, Scott Maine and even Jeff Beliveau vying for a role.

MESA, Ariz. – Anthony Rizzo has never set foot inside of Wrigley Field, but that didn't stop him from envisioning a World Series celebration inside the cozy ballpark.

Rizzo, the Cubs' new power-hitting first-base prospect, has heard all the talk that he's supposed to open the season at Triple-A Iowa (he's ignoring it) and that the major league team is supposed to be in rebuilding mode (he's not worried about it).

But he's still thinking World Series, because quite frankly, that's what he does. If you aren't thinking championship when the season starts then why the heck are you even out there.

Asked what he thought of when he heard that he was traded to the Cubs, Rizzo said the memory is crystal clear.

“It was trying to win a World Series; the history of this organization and the drought this team has been in,” Rizzo said.

Does he dare put a five-year timetable on winning it all?

“Why not this year?” he said so matter of factly that it didn't seem as if it was the first time he expressed that thought. “But there is no timetable. Every year you go out and do the best you can do to win.”

Still, not everything about Rizzo is about a singular focus that he doesn't have his light-hearted moments too. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound slugger admitted that after the trade, he also had other thoughts.

“Wrigley Field and ‘Rookie of the Year,' popped into my head,” he said.

No, not that rookie of the year.

“I'm saying the movie ‘Rookie of the Year' popped in my head, not being rookie of the year,” he said about the family film that was released a month before his fourth birthday.

Winning the actual rookie of the year might prove difficult if his path to the major leagues remains as many are predicting. Rizzo is expected to start the season at Triple-A, but he could be in the major leagues by midseason, leaving him precious little time to pick up any postseason hardware.

Bryan LaHair is expected to win the first base job out of spring training, but Rizzo plans on making the decision difficult on the Cubs coaching staff as well as management. Yet he has no expectation that even his best this spring will land him at Wrigley Field on Opening Day.

“If I go out and hit 1.000 in spring training, I can't decide wherever I go,” said Rizzo, who hit 26 home runs and drove in 101 runs while batting .331 at Triple-A Tucson last season.

Part of what helps him to be so comfortable in his own skin is that general manager Jed Hoyer is obviously very high on him. Wherever Hoyer has gone -- from Boston to San Diego to Chicago -- he has made sure to bring Rizzo along. Of course, for Rizzo there is an inherent pressure that comes with being the general manager's project.

“There is pressure that comes along with every player,” he said. “At the end of the day you have to perform on the field. It's really nice and an honor that they have the faith in me that I will be a good player, but at the end of the day you have to perform.”

And ultimately that performance could lead to a World Series, delivering a fan base what they have wanted for generations.

“[It's] ‘when' not ‘if,'” he said about winning it all. “If you're saying ‘if,' who knows if it's going to happen. You're going to have to have that mindset that we're going to do it and we're going to win. Wherever I am I want to win every day and make the playoffs with that team and be an All-Star and go to the playoffs.

"That's got to be the mindset from Game 1 to Game 162. No, I'm sorry, Game 173, or however many it takes.”"

MESA, Ariz. -- James Russell knows what is at stake now that Sean Marshall is a member of the Cincinnati Reds.

Those late-inning opportunities that Marshall flourished in during recent seasons are now up for grabs, and Russell is among the select few who could inherit them.

"Yeah, once we got rid of Sean somebody has to step up and take on his workload," Russell said. "That's kind of what I've been working toward this offseason and what I will work toward this spring."

Heading in to spring training, Russell and veteran newcomer Trever Miller appear in line to face lefties in key situations late in games. Scott Maine and John Gaub would appear to be contenders as well but have longer odds for the role.

Hearing manager Dale Sveum talk about it, he could be leaning toward Miller to face lefties late in games, but would probably let Kerry Wood handle the entire eighth inning to get to closer Carlos Marmol.

"[Miller] knows how to get left-handers out and that's a big asset depending on how your bullpen unfolds during the course of spring training," Sveum said.

Russell still has some work to do if he wants more responsibility.

"Right now he's a matchup guy against lefties," Sveum said. "He's got the ability and the endurance to go two innings. It all depends on what’s going on, the score of the game what they have on the bench and all that. But he’s a guy that can go two innings, there’s no doubt about that."

Russell knows he can’t simply rely on the organization’s familiarity with what he did last season because of all the turnover in the front office and coaching staff.

At first glance, Russell’s numbers (1-6 record and a 4.47 ERA) don’t suggest an excellent season, but throwing out the appearances when he was pressed into service as a starter and all of a sudden his value becomes clear.

Russell lost all five of his starts, posting a 9.33 ERA and a 2.018 WHIP in the process. In 59 relief outings he delivered a 2.19 ERA and a 1.074 WHIP.

"I felt like I did a very good job last year in the bullpen, and I'm hoping to build off that and take the end of the season into this season and keep it going," said the son of former major-leaguer Jeff Russell.

He knows, though that he can’t let the numbers speak for themselves with Miller, Maine and Gaub looking for innings, too. Sveum said that in a perfect world he breaks camp with two left-handers in the bullpen.

"It makes it fun. Friendly competition is always a good thing to have," Marshall said. "It makes you work harder and you kind of focus a little more."

The fact that it took almost four months to agree on compensation for Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein shows a general disconnect between the Boston Red Sox and Cubs.

Larry Lucchino, the very bright and overbearing Red Sox president and CEO, wanted a big-time player in return for an executive he no longer wanted. On Tuesday, the clubs agreed on 26-year-old relief pitcher Chris Carpenter along with players to be named from each team by April 15.

The Red Sox could have had this deal done in late November when the teams were discussing compensation at that point. Only the stubbornness of Lucchino prevented Carpenter from going to Boston then, according to major league sources.

The Cubs messed up by not getting Lucchino’s approval on compensation before they named Epstein the new president on Oct. 21. The Lucchino-Epstein power struggle has been going on for years with Lucchino never wanting to give his protege any credit for the team's world championships in 2004 and 2007. That attitude led to Epstein leaving the Red Sox for three months in 2008 before signing long-term deal through 2012.

Giving up a young pitcher such as Carpenter was too much in this case. A lower-level player and cash would have been proper compensation. There is no doubt that Epstein is a great talent, but as he said, he has never played one inning of organized baseball. Why should any team give up a player for a suit?

In the future, money would be the best way to compensate a team for a team president.

MESA, Ariz. -- March Madness is coming to the Cubs' spring-training facility in the desert, complete with a field of 64.

Instead of dunks, three-pointers and buzzer beaters, though, Cubs pitchers and position players will square off to see who is the most fundamentally sound bunter in the organization. That's right ... bunter.

Sure a bunt contest might sound akin to a bake-off or a tricycle race, but with an entire group of competitive athletes going head to head for bragging rights at something, things are bound to get both interesting and intense.

"It's fun and the guys really get into it," manager Dale Sveum said. "It just makes them focus a little more and it's kind of a, ‘I don't want to lose to my teammate [situation].' They bear down a lot more and work on their mechanics leading up to the tournament."

A 32-man pitchers' bracket will fight it out opposite of a 32-man hitter's bracket with the winners of each bracket meeting in what Sveum called a "championship match-play bunting tournament."

The coaching staff won't just have a feel for who is the most fundamentally sound bunter in the organization, the point system they have devised will let them know who can lay one down with precision.

The rules of the game are simple. The Cubs' grounds crew painted a grid on a practice field. Up and down each foul line are squares that are worth 10, 20, 30 and 40 points. There is even a triangle out in front of the plate worth five points. Lay a bunt down inside the square and receive that point total.

There are even 100-point circles on each side of the pitcher's mound.

"You can't just bunt a [terrible] bunt and end up in the bull's eye and get 100 points for it," Sveum said. "You have to call that, kind of like H-O-R-S-E."

Sveum admits that even a bunting tournament setting can't simulate somebody trying to lay one down in the late innings against a 93-mph sinker, but the benefits are clear.

"You have to get them to understand they have to be able to bunt the average fastball, the average slider with a two-strike count when they're going to get a slider to bunt, those kind of things," he said. "But we're really stressing the mechanics of it and the confidence to get bunts down and understanding the ramifications of not getting the bunt down."

Upping the ante could be the practice of guys backing up their own confidence with a little cash, or even laying some cash down on a teammate.

"There might be even a Calcutta game with guys having odds put on them," Sveum joked, referring to the practice at the country club of bidding on a foursome that has the best chance of winning the golf tournament.

The expectation is for the entire bunt contest to be conducted over a two-week stretch.

Since golf was mentioned, Sveum was asked if a long-drive contest was also in the works.

"Well a lot of guys won't have an absolute chance in that," he said. "At least in bunting, you have your good bunters and your bad bunters, but in this game anybody can surprise you from a day-to-day basis."

The Chicago Cubs are sending reliever Chris Carpenter to the Boston Red Sox as compensation for hiring Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations.

Read the entire story.

ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine and Doug Padilla take your Cubs and White Sox questions during a live chat on Tuesday. Levine kicks things off talking Cubs and White Sox at noon followed by Padilla on the Cubs at 12:30 p.m. Click here to submit your questions.

MESA, Ariz. – New Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum seems content with letting Starlin Castro dictate where he will hit in the Cubs' lineup.

Sveum has plenty of options for Castro, including the leadoff spot, but doesn't seem fixated on just one role for his young hitter.

“It's an intriguing question, and a lot of lineups are going to be out by the way guys perform in spring training because right now going in we don't have that bona fide leadoff, that bona fide third, fourth, fifth hitter, so we've got some guys that have had some success but not super at the big-league level,” Sveum said.

Castro has spent most of the time in his young career batting out of the leadoff spot and the No. 2 spot. In 339 plate-appearances as a leadoff hitter he is batting .323 with a .366 on-base percentage. He has 499 plate appearances in the second spot batting .318 with a .349 on-base mark.

Last season, though, he started his move toward the heart of the order. He actually had more plate appearances in the No. 3 hole (187) than the No. 2 spot (184). He started 42 games at each spot.

“You can make numbers look any way you want but there's always that decision to make with great hitters like that,” Sveum said. “When do we put him in that three or four or five spot? It comes a time where you can't just sit there all the time like he's comfortable in the two spot and leave him there when we need him in other spots.”

MESA, Ariz. -- Jeff Samardzija is so locked into being a starting pitcher that just the mention of the bullpen drew a terse response Monday.

When it was noted that if the rotation doesn't pan out there is always a relief role available, Samardzija stopped the comment in its tracks.

"The worst question I've ever heard," Samardzija said.

Never mind that a question had yet to be asked. What didn't have to be asked was how seriously the right-hander is taking his latest opportunity at becoming a starter in the Cubs rotation as he heads into his sixth spring training with the club.

He's been so serious about it that he has essentially been in his own version of spring training since November.

"I've been here for about four months now working out for just that with the understanding from last year that that's where I want to be and that's what I want to do," he said. "It's all that has been on my mind since the end of the season last year and I haven't worked for anything but that.

"I don't have too many hobbies right now, I don't have too many things on the side, it's mostly just baseball and that's all I'm worried about."

It's probably best Samardzija keeps his head down and continues to plug away. The list of guys vying for the final two rotation spots is a long one with Randy Wells, Travis Wood, Chris Volstad and even Andy Sonnanstine and Casey Coleman.

The Notre Dame product is not short on confidence having gone 3-0 with a 2.23 ERA out of the bullpen after the All-Star break. That success, as much as anything, has given Samardzija the confidence he can take on an even bigger role.

It also doesn't hurt the right-hander that in at least two previous springs he had experience trying out to be a starter.

"When I did it in '08 and '09 competing for a [rotation] spot, I didn't really put too much into it," he said. "I just figured you go out, have a couple of starts and they put you in the rotation and that's how it went.

"I'm a little more aware of it now and the seriousness of camp, especially for the rotation and I'm taking it seriously. I wanted to come into camp in midseason form and I think I have done that. I just want to carry that into [batting practice] sessions and then when the game starts."

Arriving to spring training four months early certainly shows how seriously Samardzija is taking this chance. And even if he doesn't want to think about it, his second half from last year showed that he could be a candidate for a setup role if he doesn't break into the rotation.

The 27-year-old also said he has no hard feelings over being non-tendered this winter and forced to agree to a deal for less money.

"Yeah it wouldn't be very bright for them to pay me the money they didn't have to pay me," he said. "They just did the smart business move. Listen, it doesn't bother me none. I'm 27 and doing OK. That's for agents and the front office to deal with. As long as they have me here in a Cubs uniform then I will be happy. This is my home, I'm happy here and happy I had the season last year to make them want to bring me back this year."

To say Chicago Cubs' right-hander Ryan Dempster was upset with the way he pitched in 2011 would be an understatement, considering it was his worst season as a starting pitcher with a 10-14 record and 4.80 ERA.

Dempster promises better results this season.

"You have some disclipline, and that comes from working hard for me," Dempster said. "I have always done that and will continue to do that.

"You have to look into the mirror and say, 'What can I do to fix those things?'"

Dempster has been the ace of the Cub staff with at least 200 innings the last four seasons. That number alone is the benchmark for upper tier starters, however that didn't stop him from challenging himself this year.

“Making better pitches is a good place to start," Dempster said. "You have to practice and learn how to stay away from those big innings."

Entering the last year of a four-year, $50 million contract, it appears that ending his career as a Cub is a goal.

”I love it here and hopefully if I just do my job then that's good enough," he said.

Dempster and Kerry Wood are considered team leaders, which is a role Dempster has been comfortable with in the past. He allowed the team to defer payments on his deal that gave the Cubs a chance to sign Milton Bradley before the 2009 season.

In 2008, Dempster told me in spring training he would win 18 games, he then won 17 in his best season as a Cub.

He also gave me a win total today which I can't divulge, but the number is higher than 14.

MESA, Ariz. -- Blake DeWitt accepted his outright assignment off the 40-man roster, the Chicago Cubs said Monday, and the infielder will come to camp to battle for an Opening Day role.

DeWitt's decision locks in his $1.1 million salary that he agreed to when he avoided arbitration with the Cubs in January. Had DeWitt elected to not accept the assignment he would have become a free agent and his $1.1 million deal would have been voided.

When infielder Adrian Cardenas was claimed off waivers from the Oakland A's earlier this month, DeWitt was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. DeWitt was not picked up by any team during a 10-day waiver period.

The left-handed hitter appeared in 121 games last season mostly as a backup at second base, third base and left field, batting .265 with five home runs and 26 RBIs. He lost a battle for the starting second base job last spring to Darwin Barney.

As a non-roster player this spring, DeWitt is expected to compete for a utility role.

MESA, Ariz. -- The most overwhelming feeling Dale Sveum had on his first day of workouts as the Chicago Cubs manager was that it was a long time coming.

“It feels like I got hired two years ago,” Sveum said.

Most of that feeling came from the anticipation of getting started. Then when the first day of workouts did arrive, the Cubs were in meetings all morning and didn’t take the field until the afternoon.

So began Sveum’s process of learning about his players first-hand instead of watching them on video or observing them from the opposing dugout as he did for the last six seasons when he was in Milwaukee.

“When you do this for so many years, the most comfortable spot is when you’re on that grass at spring training and when the balls are being hit and caught and thrown and to be able to talk to everybody,” he said. “It’s officially baseball season, finally, and it’s almost comfortable.”

The Cubs went through the typical first day workout of pitchers taking fielding practice and then throwing bullpen sessions. The only pitcher not taking part was left-hander John Gaub, who has been dealing with back spasms all week but should be ready to go soon.

Sveum said he wasn’t as concerned with the veterans as he was with some of the younger pitchers.

“The younger guys you want to see how the ball comes out of their hand,” Sveum said. “You want to see their poise on the mound especially the first day. Some guys come in and try to impress and they get a little out of whack. Today I was actually impressed with a lot of young guys and guys I haven’t seen. The ball comes out of their hand really well. We have a lot of good arms in camp.”

MESA, Ariz. -- The Chicago Cubs bullpen has been one of the most overworked groups in baseball over the last two seasons.

One situation that some people do not consider is when a receiver may warm up in the pen a number of times, but isn’t brought into the game.

New Cubs manager Dale Sveum promises to stay away from that as much as possible.

“I think each individual is different, but the back end of our bullpen with Kerry [Wood] and [Carlos] Marmol, they are guys if you get them up you want them in the game,” Sveum said. “You don’t want to get those guys hot and then, ‘Nah, I think I might leave Joe Blow in,’ or something. It’s not good for those guys and it’s not good for the longevity of our season.”

In Marmol’s case, you have a pitcher that has thrown in more than 300 games, the most in the majors over that period of time. To make a bad situation worse, the Cubs closer had 27 back-to-back outings in 2012, again the most in the big leagues.

New pitching coach Chris Bosio and Sveum will make a great impression on the bullpen bunch if they are careful with how they use Marmol and veteran set -up man Wood this season.

The end result could make this Cubs bullpen one the better ones in the National League.