New Cubs pitcher Jaime Navarro hopes the 15 to 25 pounds he shed since last season will help him regain his form of 1992, when he won 17 games for the Milwaukee Brewers.
“It’s a good opportunity-a brand-new league, a brand-new life, a brand-new son and a brand-new start,” said Navarro, 27, who became a father five months ago.
The 6-foot-4-inch right-hander weighed 225 pounds in ’92 when he went 17-11 with a 3.33 earned-run average. He says he weighed 240 last year, maybe a little more, when he fell to 4-9 with a 6.62 ERA.
Navarro was back to 225 Monday when he weighed in for his first workout with the Cubs.
“Maybe it was the weight, I don’t know,” Navarro said. “I guess because I wasn’t pitching well they’ve got to blame it on something.”
Manager Jim Riggleman is counting on Navarro to fill one of the five spots in the starting rotation.
“I hope so,” Navarro said. “Last year they put me in the bullpen in Milwaukee. I didn’t like pitching out there.”
Teammates: Two Cubs who ran across each other during the strike were pitcher Kevin Foster and second baseman Rey Sanchez. Foster pitched in Mexico and Sanchez played shortstop for the San Juan Senators in the Puerto Rican League. They faced each other in the Caribbean World Series.
“He got a single off me that cost me three runs,” Foster said of Sanchez. “The next guy got on with an error. Then Roberto Alomar comes up and hits a three-run homer. I should have been out of the inning.”
Sanchez chuckled, then said: “Fastball away. He never had a chance.”