Wade Miller's Fastball Still Missing

Wade Miller, who had shoulder surgery in September 2005 and ended up starting 5 games for the Cubs last September with a mediocre fastball, still does not have his old fastball back. MLB.com quoted Lou Piniella today as saying, "Wade doesn't have the arm strength that Kerry [Wood] and the rest of these guys have, obviously. He's got good rotation in his breaking ball and he's spotting his fastball very well. Velocity is not the name of the game with Wade. It's more changing speeds and utilizing pitches and hitting his spots."

If he is going to be successful, he's going to have to hit his spots better than he did last season, when he walked 18 in 21.2 innings.