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MESA, Ariz. -- So far so good on the Dale Sveum era, as everybody from upper management to the players have lauded the spring training camp put together by the new Cubs manager.

It’s only spring training of course, but if first impressions are important, and if sticking to your word matters, then Sveum has started his Cubs tenure on the right track.

It was in the middle of camp when general manager Jed Hoyer admitted that part of what sold everybody on Sveum was that spring training set the tone, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Players worked longer this spring, they were required to pay attention to detail instead of just going through the motions and everything was done on precision timing that left little downtime.

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MESA, Ariz. -- The Chicago Cubs were the worst defensive team in baseball the last two seasons, which gives you a pretty good idea why they had consecutive fifth-place finishes.

New Cubs manager Dale Sveum is convinced that his team will defend better this season.

“Nobody has a crystal ball to tell what is going to happen in a 162-game schedule,” Sveum said. “Just the implementation of positioning is going to help defensively. Is it going to cut down on errors? Who knows. But I think the work ethic will help.”

Looking at each position, there are some pluses and minuses from last season.

First and foremost, shortstop Starlin Castro will be better this season. Sveum and his staff have helped the third-year major leaguer shorten his stride and release point on balls hit directly at him. Castro and Darwin Barney will be entering their second season together, which should help cut down on coverage and relay gaffes. Barney had never played second base until last spring, so the career shortstop will automatically be more sound at the position. Both players need to help the catcher out on throws to second base as Geovany Soto had 13 throwing errors in 2011, the majority of which should have been at least knocked down by one of the infielders.

Third base will be better defensively with a more athletic player, Ian Stewart, replacing Aramis Ramirez. First base may be an adventure with Bryan LaHair trying to replace one of the better first baseman in Carlos Pena. The outfield should be OK, but not Gold-Glove caliber with a quicker Marlon Byrd and a solid David DeJesus to go with Alfonso Soriano's below-average range and throwing.

“We are going to be better [on defense], there is no doubt about it,” Sveum said. “The outfield play will be better. A lot of things have been implemented that are paying off in the long run.”

Better may be a relative term when you are trying to cut down from a major-league high 134 errors from the previous season.

MESA, Ariz. -- Not a bad day when your fifth starter performs more like an ace.

Chicago Cubs starter Paul Maholm's excellent spring continued Monday when he pitched five scoreless innings for the against the San Diego Padres, giving up four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

“I was working on a few different things that we are trying to implement and gave up a few hits, but they were good pitches,” Maholm said. “The main thing was getting out there, getting through five, to the 70-pitch mark, and for the most part I worked ahead.”

In four starts this spring, the Cubs left-hander has given up just one earned run, good for a 0.90 ERA.

Maholm will occupy the No. 5 spot in the Cubs rotation, but the decision to have him bring up the rear on the starting staff wasn’t performance-based.

He was down for the count for three days early in camp with a flu virus and since the coaching staff eased him back into action, they wanted him to get as much preparation as possible before making his season debut.

“You’re never going to hear me complain about being one of the five guys,” Maholm said. “I’ll take the ball every fifth day and expect to win that day. I expect [Ryan] Dempster and [Matt] Garza and the rest of the guys [would say] the same thing. I will get matched up against some No. 1s and some No. 5s. The day you pitch, you’re the No. 1 guy.”

Maholm, who had a 3.66 ERA over 26 starts last season at Pittsburgh, will make his season debut in the second series of the season at home against the Milwaukee Brewers.

MESA, Ariz. -- Chicago Cubs closer Carlos Marmol proved what last week’s MRI showed, that his hand is just fine.

Ultimately diagnosed with a cramp in his right hand after leaving a game on Tuesday against the Texas Rangers, Marmol was held out of games for nearly a week. Returning against the San Diego Padres on Monday, he pitched a scoreless inning but did give up a hit and a walk.

Now that he is healthy, Marmol still needs to prove over the last week-plus of Cactus League games that can be effective. He has made seven outings this spring and has not only allowed a base runner in six of them, but at least two base runners in five of them.

He has been scored upon in only two of his outings, although he blew a lead both of those times, allowing a combined seven runs.

MESA, Ariz. -- Ryan Dempster could have brushed aside his struggles in a minor-league game Sunday, but he owned up to them, saying his execution should have been better.

The Chicago Cubs starter got in his second-to-last spring outing against Single-A competition, which is always an awkward affair. A classic pitching approach can be thrown out the window because the young hitters are usually free swingers.

Dempster was tagged to the tune of six runs and eight hits in five innings. He did get past the 80-pitch plateau, though, before throwing as many as 30 more pitches in the bullpen following his outing.

“It was probably a lack of executing some pitches,” Dempster said when asked if aggressive hitters jumped him early in counts. “They’re up there swinging, yeah, but I could have made some better pitches. I was trying to accomplish a few things, which I did and was really good, which was the most important thing about yesterday.”

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MESA, Ariz. -- Despite his somber appearance following another poor spring outing Monday, Chicago Cubs pitcher Travis Wood said he is as determined as ever to deliver better results.

Wood gave up seven runs on seven hits over two-plus innings Monday, leaving him with a 25.07 ERA in his three Arizona outings.

He was probably out of consideration for a job on the Opening Day roster even before his latest blow up. The only question now is: What do the Cubs do with him the rest of the spring?

“Things just aren’t going my way right now, trying to work on some new stuff,” Wood said Tuesday. “It’s just a battle.”

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MESA, Ariz. -- Sunday marked the start of a week when the Chicago Cubs will give answers to some looming Opening Day questions.

From Las Vegas, where the Cubs are playing a pair of split-squad games against the Texas Rangers this weekend, manager Dale Sveum said he expects to name his Opening Day starter after Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza each make one more outing.

Garza is lined up for Opening Day if he starts every fifth day, but Dempster has been pitching one day earlier than Garza the way the rotation is laid out now. Dempster is the favorite to get the Opening Day nod, just as he did last year.

Not long after the starting pitcher for the first game of the season is named, Sveum said he will probably start using a lineup very similar to the one he plans on using April 5 in the opener against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field.

Sveum said he also wants to use something close to a regular-season lineup over the last 10 days of the Cactus League schedule. Since the final Cactus League game is April 3, that regular lineup should start showing up next weekend.

The biggest lineup question is where Alfonso Soriano bats. Sveum has suggested it will be in the third, fourth or fifth spot. Also, without a clear-cut No. 2 hitter, who will Sveum use to follow the leadoff man? Starlin Castro or even Geovany Soto could end up with the role. Castro has spent a lot of time in the No. 3 hole since Cactus League games began.

“As an offense you start doing things you wouldn’t do early in spring, sacrifice bunting, using the bullpen the way we’re going to use it during the season, mixing and matching in the bullpen,” Sveum said earlier this week. “That’s when all that starts with about 10 days left.”

MESA, Ariz. -- Matt Garza sees a happier bunch of a campers this spring compared to last year, his first season with the Cubs, and he credits manager Dale Sveum for the changes.

“[He’s] blue-collar. That’s what you need here,” Garza said. “I’ve said that over and over again. We don’t work 2 to 11, we work 9 to 5. You have to get up and put in your work like a blue-collar worker. That’s the way Cubs baseball should be and that’s what I think it’s going to be.”

Garza thought that last year’s team didn't always respond under manager Mike Quade.

“Last year was a little tough with the guy in charge because he was always going a mile a minute all the time and really didn’t stop. Dale is more of a laid back guy … not easy going, but [he] slows things down. I try to get him to where I am and my intensity level. I want to show him my competitive level and that I know how to draw the line.”

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MESA, Ariz. -- There appeared to be more offspeed pitches in the mix for Chicago Cubs starter Ryan Dempster on Monday as opposed to spring games last year.

Dempster has admitted to new manager Dale Sveum that his slow start to the 2011 season could be related to how things went in spring training.

“He had an unbelievable spring training last year here; he had an unbelievable command of his fastball, he said,” manager Sveum said. “And that might have gotten him into a little bit of trouble because he mentioned he wasn’t using his secondary pitches as much because he was so caught up in having great fastball command, he didn’t work his offspeed stuff as much in spring training last year.”

Something surely was amiss because before the calendar turned to May, Dempster was 1-3 with a 9.58 ERA in six starts.

In a two-inning, opening-start tune-up Monday, Dempster gave up one run on two hits with two strikeouts.

“I’ve been working on everything this spring and my offspeed stuff is already ahead of where it was last year,” Dempster said. “You can work on fastball command just playing catch so I have been using my sides to work on my other stuff and work on my offspeed pitches just so they’re crisp when the season starts.”

Not that Dempster is looking for a reason to be motivated, but rebounding from his rocky April and pitching in the last season of his Cubs contract could give that to him this year.

“I think all those pieces fall into place if you just go out there and do your job,” he said. “Whatever they end up being, the easiest thing for me to do is to focus on my job and that’s preparing between starts and every fifth day go out and do the best job I can to be mentally and physically prepared to pitch.”

First things first, though, and that’s to show that the opening month from last season can be corrected.

“That’s why I worked hard this winter” Dempster said. “Any time you have a subpar year, speaking for me personally, you really don’t like it a lot and you want to do better the next time. The easiest way to do that is to go out, work hard and be as ready as you can. Be prepared. And I have done a lot of that this spring and I’m looking forward getting through here healthy and [being] ready for the season starting.”

MESA, Ariz. -- Saturday’s Chicago Cubs intrasquad game was notable for the performance of the Jackson 2.

Pitcher Jay Jackson pitched three perfect innings while Brett Jackson hit a home run for the second consecutive day. Both were playing for the White Team. The game was called after six innings in a 3-3 tie.

In his fifth season in the Cubs organization, Jay Jackson has a golden opportunity to make an impression on a new manager (Dale Sveum) and pitching coach (Chris Bosio). Saturday was his first chance to show that his 8-14 record and 5.34 ERA at Triple-A Iowa last season wasn’t representative of what he can do.

“I feel like I know I can help this ballclub any way they need me to,” Jay Jackson said. “Whatever they want me to do I will be more than willing to do it. This is just my second year (in big-league camp) so I feel a little more comfortable this year. I’m not going to think too much about it.”

Brett Jackson’s road appears set with a trip to Iowa in his near future, but if he continues to deliver on his potential like he is doing it won’t be an easy decision.

“I’ve said it before, the things I can control are what I do every day,” Brett Jackson said. “I’m not going to make the team right now, today, but every day is a piece to that puzzle and I will keep working until that day comes. And when that day comes I will keep working there.”

Joe Mather had a three-run home run for the White Team.

MESA, Ariz. -- When it comes to Trever Miller, the Chicago Cubs may have found more than a left-handed reliever for the late innings.

Spring training is barely two weeks old and already the veteran has emerged as a leader among a group of players he is just getting to know.

Miller, who will turn 39 in May, has provided inspiration for some of the younger pitchers in camp. Fellow newcomer Andy Sonnanstine remarked that Miller’s obvious fitness level means that nobody has excuses for not being in great shape.

“[Sonnanstine] gave me a new title this year,” Miller said. “He said, ‘You’re a young kid’s worst nightmare because you are in impeccable shape, you can run for days, you work really hard in the weight room.’ So they have no excuses.”

Regardless of his commitment to fitness, his lasting impression remains to be seen. The Cubs do need some late innings to be filled from left-handers in the wake of Sean Marshall's departure, but Miller will have to earn his spot as a non-roster invitee to camp.

“He’s doing well,” manager Dale Sveum said. “He’s the ultimate professional. He came in in phenomenal shape and he’s throwing the ball well. It’s just one of those things where it all comes down to what happens against that other team with all this competition that is going on in camp.”

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MESA, Ariz. -- The Chicago Cubs have plenty of lineup experimentation left to do, so players have been advised to not make much of the batting order in any of this weekend’s games.

The Cubs have intrasquad games on Friday and Saturday with the starting squad expected to be split among the two squads. They play their first Cactus League game Saturday at HoHoKam Park against the Oakland Athletics.

Manager Dale Sveum has yet to reveal any of the lineups he plans on using this weekend.

“I’ll probably have different lineups every day just looking at stuff,” Sveum said. “Like I told these guys, don’t look into any of the lineups I’m going to be throwing out there the first week or so because it’s just getting the feel for everything. Some of the guys in the lineup right now, there are not cut-and-dry guys, so there will be a lot of different lineups out there.”

While the lineups aren’t known, the pitching schedule is. Travis Wood and Randy Wells will each start Friday with Andy Sonnanstine and Casey Coleman pitching in relief. On Friday, Jay Jackson and Chris Rusin will start while Trey McNutt and Alberto Cabrera pitch in relief.

Rodrigo Lopez will get the start in Sunday’s game.

MESA, Ariz. -- The Cubs have now completed three-fourths of the opening round in their 64-person bunt tournament with Travis Wood, Jeff Samardzija, Randy Wells, Andy Sonnanstine, Joe Mather, Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro and Ian Stewart all advancing Sunday.

The final eight matches of the first round are scheduled to take place Monday with the featured matchup of the day taking place between Kerry Wood and manager Dale Sveum.

The finals aren’t expected to take place until the middle of March.

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. -- 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.”