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CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said on Wednesday that renovation plans for a new expanded clubhouse in Wrigley Field may be delayed until 2015.

Epstein had hoped to get a new dwelling for his team that would include a batting cage and expanded weight and cardio area.

Epstein tied in ownership getting the go-ahead from city commissions to renovate the entire ballpark as a tome line to helping his club have the facilities he believes it needs to compete for the top players in the game.

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CINCINNATI -- The 5-12 Chicago Cubs are starting to accomplish some things on defense the organization hasn't seen in quite some time. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's been 10 years since the Cubs gave up more than 14 unearned runs – as they have this season – in their first 17 games of the season.

The last time they made more than 17 errors in their first 17 games was in 2000. Finally, 1995 was the last time the Cubs committed more than 17 errors and gave up more than 14 unearned runs in the first 17 games. Those aren't numbers any manager wants to see.

It's not a reach by any means to conclude the six errors the Cubs made over the weekend in Milwaukee cost them all three games.

On Friday, the first play of the game – an easy grounder to Anthony Rizzo at first base – was muffed, and the next four batters hit for the cycle putting the Cubs in a 4-0 hole. Losing by a run, 5-4, only highlights the magnitude of that error.

Saturday's miscues led manager Dale Sveum to say the Cubs were making "rookie ball" mistakes. A dropped fly ball by Alfonso Soriano in the fifth followed later in that inning by a bobbled ground ball by Starlin Castro allowed two unearned runs to score as did Edwin Jackson's throw into center field on a double play attempt in the sixth. The final there was 5-1 with four scoring thanks to those errors.
Finally, on Sunday pitcher Scott Feldman couldn't snag a ball hit back to him with two outs in the fifth allowing Ryan Braun to come to bat. He promptly hit a hanging breaking pitch for a 3-run home run.

The biggest culprits in the field so far have been Castro (4 errors) and Feldman (3). But at least Castro has done it over all 17 games. Feldman has appeared in just three. The last Cubs shortstop with more than four errors in team's first 17 games of a season was Castro last season. He had 7 through his first 17 games. The last pitchers with more than errors were Carlos Zambrano and Felix Doubront who each had 3 in 2010.

So the Cubs gave up eight unearned runs out of 14 scored by the Brewers. That's basically handing the entire series to the opponent. And remember it was before this past weekend -- last Tuesday in fact -- team president Theo Epstein said "we're not talented enough to play this sloppy." Obviously, his team wasn't listening.

MILWAUKEE -- Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum might be sending a message to his team after yet another sloppy loss on Saturday night to the Milwaukee Brewers.

"We're making mistakes that rookie ball people make," Sveum said after a 5-1 loss. "It seems to be the story every night."

The Cubs made three more bad errors Saturday leading to four unearned runs, and most alarming is they were made by key players -- two of whom should remain with the team if the Cubs become contenders over the next several years.

"It's unbelievable," Starlin Castro said. "I think we're trying to do too much. Trying to be too perfect."

Castro made his fourth error of the season, with two outs and a man on third base, on the easiest of ground balls in the fifth inning. That was preceded earlier in the inning by a fly ball that Alfonso Soriano dropped after thinking he had to go back for it instead of toward the infield. One inning later, Edwin Jackson threw away a potential double-play ball into center field.

"I double clutched," Jackson said. "Once I doubled clutched I didn't gather back up; caused me to open up instead of stay closed."

As always with this team lately, the outcome of the game is secondary. A more important concern is Castro's ability to play shortstop. Another question is whether Jackson can be a mainstay after starting 0-3. He's signed for four years and $52 million. Castro for seven years and $60 million. Sveum was asked if there really is anything he can do about the defense in terms of personnel considering the miscues are being made by his mainstays.

"There's always options if you can't play," Sveum said cryptically. "To win in the big leagues you have to have people that perform, and perform in 162 days and not once in a while. Otherwise you lose your job."

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CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said Tuesday he will need more revenue streams if he is to make the Cubs a consistent contender, echoing what chairman Tom Ricketts said the previous day.

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CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs have "ramped up security" in the aftermath of the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

"We have large crowds on a regular basis and they trust us with their safety," Cubs president Theo Epstein said Tuesday. "It's difficult to keep large numbers of people safe so we have to take every precaution."

According to a Cubs spokesperson, all employees will "operate with a heightened awareness" while additional specific measures will be in place for the near future including, but not exclusively, the following:

• All garbage cans are being removed from the exterior of Wrigley Field.
• All bags exceeding the maximum size of 16 x 16 x 8 inches are not allowed into the ballpark.
• Stepped up police presence will be in the neighborhood for the games
• A canine unit will be stationed outside of the facility.

Epstein called the measures in line with what took place immediately following 9/11 saying that they've always been in place but some may have been "lax". Not anymore.

"We've ramped up security even tighter in the aftermath of what happened (Monday)," he said.

CHICAGO -- There are seven basic plot types for a story, but only two kinds for the Chicago Cubs: Ones about failure and ones about hope.

When it comes to the Cubs, it’s all about the past we’ll never forget, the present we can’t stomach and the future we’ll never see.

Under the Ricketts regime, the present has been execrable. But a blissful future is always an outfield sign and a minor leaguer away.

All the talk about patience and commitment and foundation for sustained success have filtered into the brains of the most devoted Cubs fans. It’s not a bad thing to be patient, and it’s not a good thing to be angry about a perennially lousy baseball team.

But don’t tell Cubs president Theo Epstein he doesn’t care about winning this season.

As part of the public demands of his job, he has to sell hope and patience. He does it well, with charm and an earned baseball sophistication.

He’ll tell you that winning and building are intertwined, and it’s true. But it doesn’t feel good for him to answer questions about dealing with a wasted season before it’s even began. Because for Epstein, the owner of two World Series rings, baseball is better when you win.

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Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein reflects on the team's first week and Carlos Marmol's struggles.

PITTSBURGH -- Theo Epstein wouldn't speculate on what will happen if Monday's self-imposed deadline to come to an agreement with the city to approve a renovation of Wrigley Field passes, but said the improvements are "fundamentally important to get us to the next level as an organization."

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PITTSBURGH -- Amidst the tiring back-and-forth of the Wrigley Field renovation project (including a silly dalliance with the city of Rosemont), a greater interest in their minor leaguers and the promise of the upcoming No. 2 overall pick in the draft, the Chicago Cubs have a season to play.

It starts Monday in Pittsburgh in case your attention was elsewhere, maybe on the back fields of Fitch Park in Mesa, Ariz. where most of the future hangs out.

Come October it’s more than likely -- heck, it’s nearly a guarantee -- that the Cubs will be a half decade into a second century of futility. One hundred and five years will have gone by without a championship. The good news is they should be a year closer.

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MESA, Ariz. -- The first day of full squad workouts for the Chicago Cubs started with some laughter but ended with a scare, as pitcher Matt Garza walked off the mound after throwing 20 pitches of a 40-pitch batting practice session.

Garza hurt his left side but says he should be OK. But for a team that has been searching for answers during, well, the past 104 years, it was an inauspicious start.

Before practice and the injury, the Cubs held a team meeting, with ownership and the entire front office present. It’s at that point the Cubs donned orange hunting gear, mocking manager Dale Sveum’s winter hunting expedition, during which he was accidentally shot, though not seriously. After the laughs subsided, Sveum had words for his 2013 team.

“The message I want to get through is accountability and work ethic and preparation, and things aren’t accepted here as much as other places sometimes,” he said. “The players have to realize how much change has gone on in the organization in one year.”

A lot of that change will be on display in spring training as new meets old.

The Cubs have a season to play very soon but at every turn in Mesa during the past week there has been a storyline looking toward the future. There’s the future of spring training (new facility opens next year), the future of Wrigley Field (hope that renovations begin soon) and, of course, the future of the on-field product. All three were addressed by owner Tom Ricketts.

“I think everyone knows from top to bottom that everyone is on the same page,” newcomer pitcher Scott Baker said after the meeting. “Everybody wants to get this organization to being one of the best, if not the best in baseball. That all starts at the top, with ownership and the front office. Everybody had the same points to make; everyone is working toward a common goal.

“Do the best you can: We’re going to have fun, but at the same time we’re working toward something special.”

As the present meets the future in spring training, it’s not difficult to envision how things might look in 2014 or 2015. Every time 20-year-old Cuban prospect Jorge Soler picked up a bat -- even in unofficial workouts for position players -- it was a lot more interesting to watch than any current Cub. Maybe that’s because the current ones are well known, losers of 101 games last year. Or maybe because future Cubs such as Soler and Javier Baez are simply more talented than anything the Cubs have had around the organization in a while.

“I’m optimistic about what we can do now,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said this week.

Many fans are more optimistic about what Rizzo himself can than what the team can do. Rizzo and shortstop Starlin Castro represent the present and the future.

And to be sure, the arrival of players such as Ian Stewart and left fielder Alfonso Soriano will get their share of attention. However those storylines are either worn out (Soriano) or not very intriguing (Stewart). Why? Simply because there’s a good chance those players won’t be Cubs when the team is good enough to win something … unless they shock the world this year.

Sveum said he spoke about “a lot of the positives that came out of last year.”

That must have been a short part of the meeting.

The biggest positive? It’s a year later. And the prospects are inching their way to the big leagues, while the Cubs will draft the No. 2 overall pick this June. That’s about the only advantage of a 101-loss season.

It was one thing when Soler and Baez were just new names in the organization. It’s another thing when they are viewed up close, and with other major leaguers. Soler doesn’t have to hit bombs in batting practice, but he did. And so a legend begins. But, again, that’s mostly because the 2013 storylines aren’t that compelling.

Dreaming of a productive outfield of Soler, Brett Jackson and Albert Almora, while Rizzo, Darwin Barney, Castro and Baez hold down the infield, is a better narrative for Cubs fans than anything else this spring training. The problem is that dream is a ways off and has no guarantees, but at least we have the faces and names.

Of course, who will be on the mound in the future is even less certain. Jeff Samardzija has a good chance and Edwin Jackson is signed long term, but even then there are no guarantees. And Garza needs to assure his bosses -- and a fan base -- he can be durable after last season and even after what happened on Sunday.

Which brings us back to what we do know for certain.

A new Mesa spring training facility will open next year, as well as a new Cubs training facility in the Dominican Republic. Wrigley will be renovated and the Cubs won’t ask taxpayers to pay for it. The Cubs will struggle this season, as they’ve identified only a few core players. Everyone else is either on a one-year tryout or is simply taking up space until the aforementioned prospects arrive.

Cubs president Theo Epstein recently said that once spring training begins, it’s all about 2013. It’s a nice thought, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

MESA, Ariz. -- A rocky year on the field in 2012 hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts about the direction his team is headed.

During a media gathering on Sunday, the club's owner and top executive offered his support of president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, saying Epstein's vision of the team's future is right on target with ownership's plans.

"I think the progress is tremendous," Ricketts said. "People can't see all the decisions that are made behind the scenes. I see these guys making hundreds of smart decisions during the course of the year. Some of them are public decisions, and a lot of them are smaller decisions made behind the scenes. I just have complete total confidence that they are moving us in the right direction."

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MESA, AZ. –- And the winner is … Nate Halm.

Halm, an assistant for video and advanced scouting, beat 15 other front office and clubhouse personnel in the “play-in” round of the Chicago Cubs annual bunting tournament.

Halm will enter the main tournament, going up against 62 Cubs players and their bullpen coach in a March Madness-style event covering much of the spring. The highlight of the 16-person tournament on Saturday was the first-round matchup pitting team president Theo Epstein against general manager Jed Hoyer. Epstein won the match decisively.

“The most important match of the year was the first one,” Epstein said. “I will say Jed and I have a long history of playing pickup basketball and other sports. That one felt good.”

The loss is particularly embarrassing for Hoyer, who played college baseball at Wesleyan. Epstein was immediately ousted in Round 2 by his 25-year-old new director of baseball operations, Scott Harris.

“I hired him,” Epstein boasted after losing to him.

Halm will compete in the main tournament starting next week after position players report on Sunday. David DeJesus is the defending champion.

Who's on third?

The opening day starter in 2012, Ian Stewart, showed up to camp on Friday followed by teammate Luis Valbuena on Saturday. Valbuena, according to manager Dale Sveum, filled in nicely for Stewart last season after the latter went down with a wrist injury. Stewart signed a one-year deal this past offseason and declared himself healthy for 2013.

Sveum was asked if third base was Stewart’s job to lose.

“It’s his job to win,” Sveum shot back.

The manager hasn’t been shy to outline what Stewart has to do to keep the job: produce.

Valbuena is happy to have a roster spot and played plenty of baseball over the winter but doesn’t feel like he can relax.

“I have to play hard,” Valbuena said on Saturday. “I have to have the start they want. I feel like I’m competing right now.”

Soler Again

Twenty year old Cuban prospect Jorge Soler put on another show in batting practice on Saturday. This time, it was on a diamond on which a home run to left field landed in the street.

“Cars are in jeopardy over there,” Sveum joked. “I’m just anxious to see him in games and see how it all plays out … To where you can start putting a picture together.”

New Number for Sveum

The Cubs manager will wear No. 4 this season, giving up his No. 33 to newcomer Carlos Villanueva. Dioner Navarro was previously No. 4 but is also switching.

“I’m not a big number guy,” Sveum said. “It [No. 4] was the first one available when I asked [equipment manager] Otis.”

Full Squad Reports

Position players are all due to report to spring training on Sunday, and Sveum says no one will be late. All are in town already.

Owner Tom Ricketts will address the team on Sunday, updating the players on renovation plans for Wrigley Field and progress on the new spring facility slated to open next year.

Jesse Rogers covers the Cubs for ESPN 1000 and ESPNChicago.com

MESA, Ariz. -- There is no bigger loser in the history of competitive sports than the Chicago Cubs. They are the standard that all losing organizations are held up to.

The Blackhawks' former drought? Forty-nine years was nothing. The White Sox? They were closing in on Cub-like territory with an 88-year gap between championships, but it ended in 2005. There are plenty of examples of other futile teams -- teams that have never won a title, in fact. But those teams, such as the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners, are relatively new to the sports landscape.

The Cubs stand alone. One hundred and four years ... and counting. There's more than a good chance it will be 105 after 2013 is all said and done.

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MESA, Ariz. -– The Chicago Cubs officially begin their 2013 season Sunday when pitchers and catchers report to Fitch Park in Arizona, with position players due one week later. The team will eventually move to Hohokam Park, where games will take place.

Here are the top things to know as the Cubs continue their quest for their first championship since 1908:

Pitchers and catchers: They’ll actually report on Sunday and Monday, with their first official workout set for Tuesday. With an especially long spring training due to the World Baseball Classic, all major league teams will have to rework their normal pitching routines to prepare for the regular season. In other words, there’s no rush to ramp up the arms just yet.

Position players: They report Feb. 17, though many are already in Mesa working out and preparing. Anthony Rizzo, the team's only participant in the World Baseball Classic, will leave the Cubs to play for Team Italy.

Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein: They’ll address the media Sunday with the focus on 2013. Though they acknowledge their long-term plans, Epstein said recently that once spring training commences, it’s all about this year. Their eyes in camp will be focused on the prospects, which ESPN.com recently ranked fifth overall in baseball.

Spring games: They begin Feb. 23 and go through March 30, with the final two exhibition games played in Houston against the Astros. The Cubs will take on the White Sox on March 7 (at home) and March 15 (away). They’ll play two split-squad games against the Texas Rangers in Las Vegas on March 16 and 17.

Position battles: Believe it or not, there probably aren’t many for a team that lost 101 games a year ago. The starting infield is set; only the backups needs to be determined among a group that includes Luis Valbuena, Alberto Gonzalez and Brent Lillibridge. There isn’t a lot of room in the outfield; the only question is if speedster and fan favorite Tony Campana will break camp with the club. Health might help determine roster spots for the pitching staff, as Scott Baker is returning from Tommy John surgery. The battle for the final two spots in the rotation might be the best of camp. Carlos Marmol is the closer at the moment, but newcomer Kyuji Fujikawa could push him.

Major questions: In the spring, a lot revolves around health. Is Ian Stewart fully recovered from wrist surgery? Will Matt Garza (elbow) and Baker be ready as April approaches? As for performances, Welington Castillo is one to watch behind the plate. Can he handle the load of being the No. 1 catcher, and will spring games help determine that? If Fujikawa is getting hitters out by going after them –- something the Cubs said they liked about him -– will he push Marmol, who relies on his slider too often? And an eye has to be kept on Alfonso Soriano. At any time, a team could decide it needs his bat, but he has to approve the deal while the Cubs have to determine how much of the $36 million he’s owed they will pick up.

Analysis: Without a lot of questions at different positions, the focus in camp might be on the highly touted prospects the Cubs have. Javier Baez got a big league invite to spring training and should get into a handful of exhibition games before heading out to minor league camp. Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters will also get long looks, though neither is expected to make the team. How Garza throws coming off an injury and who wins those back-end rotation spots are the most important pitching questions. As always, how the Cubs actually fare in Cactus League play has little consequence on the regular season.

What do you do when one of your franchise cornerstones is a 22-year-old shortstop and your top prospect plays the same position?

Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein doesn't see a dilemma in potentially having to find a way to have two-time All-Star Starlin Castro on the field at the same time with shortstop Javier Baez, who is ranked as the 31st-best prospect in baseball by ESPN's Keith Law.

"That's the problem you want to have. Give me nine shortstops. If you give me nine shortstops we'll field a team," Epstein said Tuesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000. "You look throughout baseball history, the great players are the ones who come up in the middle of the field and then move to a corner or move further along on the defensive spectrum. Gary Sheffield came up as a shortstop. He stayed there for awhile and then he went to third base and then left field and right field. That's typical.

"We're going to draft and find as many middle of the field potential impact players as we can and nine times out of 10 it naturally sorts itself out."

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