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MESA, Ariz. -- No matter what the record says, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein insists he sees progress as he begins his third season in charge. It hasnt shown at the major league level. "The people that we have in place in this organization -- the coaches, scouts -- I believe are impact, and I believe in the processes that we have in place," Epstein said Thursday. "It takes time to turn our organization around. It takes time to build impact talent and to build requisite depth. But its happening. People in those meetings, the people in this organization, really believe that were on the verge of something special. And we understand that were perceived otherwise, and thats our fault because weve been a last-place club the last couple years. Were not protesting. We need to earn our way into a position where were championship contenders on an annual basis, and we feel like that is certainly moving in the right direction." It hasnt been an easy process, and while success might be on the horizon, it doesnt appear to be at hand. Pitchers and catchers reported on Thursday, and for the Cubs, it doesnt look like much will be different this season. They were relatively quiet in the off-season, although they did hire manager Rick Renteria to replace the fired Dale Sveum and made a run at star Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, but mostly it looks like they are in for more rough times at the major league level as they wait for their top prospects to develop in the minors. Their most recent winning season was when they went 83-78 under Lou Piniella in 2009. With four straight sub-.500 seasons, theyve matched their longest streak since 1984 to 1988. And another losing season would put them on their longest run since they finished below .500 six years in a row from 1978 to 1983. For now, the Cubs continue to sell hope, a promise that better days are coming. They tout their minor league system, and while renovations to Wrigley Field remain on hold, they can point to new facilities in the Dominican Republic along with a spring training home that just opened. As for the Cubs record, it cant get much worse. Theyve dropped 91 or more games each of the past three years and are coming off a two-year run under Sveum that produced a 127-197 record. Theyre hoping Renteria will provide the right atmosphere for young major league players such as shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo as well as top prospects Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora and Kris Bryant. They believe they have three solid starters in Travis Wood, Jeff Samardzija and Edwin Jackson, although Jackson struggled last season and Samardzija is a potential trade chip after he was unable to reach a long-term agreement and took a one-year deal. Jake Arrieta, a candidate to start, might not be ready for the beginning of the season because of tightness in his right shoulder. General manager Jed Hoyer revealed Thursday that Arrieta, acquired from Baltimore last July, experienced some tightness this winter and is being brought along slowly. Hoyer announced Arrietas injury after confirming the Cubs agreed to one-year contracts with starting pitchers Jason Hammel and James McDonald. Both could be candidates to be traded before the deadline if they succeed, considering thats exactly what the Cubs did with Paul Maholm and Scott Feldman the past two seasons. "We know we have some numbers now," Hoyer said. They also have hope that better days are coming. "Theres a real dichotomy between how the organization is perceived from the outside and how we look at it internally and the morale that we have internally," Epstein said. NOTES: Renteria tabbed newcomer Jose Veras as the closer. ... Hoyer basically dismissed the idea of moving Castro to another position even though he and the White Soxs Alexei Ramirez led major league shortstops with 22 errors last season and Baez is in the pipeline. "Castros our shortstop," Hoyer said. "We have all the confidence in the world that hell remain our shortstop and hell keep working hard and keep improving. And he knows theres (room) to improve there." ... Hoyer said reliever Kyuji Fujikawa will soon start throwing off the mound. Hes coming off Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow. ... Epstein said the Cubs will look to draft pitchers going forward, although not necessarily with their first pick. Jared Spurgeon Jersey . Watching them over the past year - and in some cases, two years - has given us a starting point for this seasons Craigs List. Matt Cullen Jersey . -- Kevin Harvick pulled away on a restart with 47 laps to go and ended Chase Elliotts two-race winning streak in NASCARs Nationwide Series with a dominating victory early Saturday at Richmond International Raceway. http://www.cheapwildjerseys.com/?tag=adi...-foligno-jersey. The Rangers centre left early in Game 1 with an upper body injury after being checked by Canadiens defenceman Mike Weaver and has not played since. Brassard told reporters after practice that he was good to go. That brought a smile to the face of Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. Cheap Wild Jerseys . Wearing bib No. 1, Maze skied through the gates cleanly to defend her big first-run lead and finish 0.07 seconds ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. Defending champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third, trailing 0. Jason Zucker Jersey . For Sweed, a second round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008, this will be his second go around in the CFL after previously having spent time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.HOUSTON -- UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos will meet for the final fight in their heavyweight trilogy Saturday night in UFC 166. And whatever the outcome, Velasquez said he wont fight Dos Santos again -- at least not anytime soon. "I think it will be settled for a while," Velasquez said. "I wont say that I wont fight him in five years or so because that could be a possibility." But he does enjoy the rivalry theyve had over the last couple of years. "Its good to have an opponent like that thats always pushing you to get better," Velasquez said. Velasquez reclaimed the belt from Dos Santos with a decisive unanimous decision in UFC 155 in December. It was the first loss for Dos Santos since November 2007. Velasquez is expecting Dos Santos to take a different approach in this one. "I think his biggest adjustments will have to be his pace -- not just backing up," Velasquez said. "I think him being more aggressive. I think the only thing different he could do is to be more aggressive." Dos Santos said he made a lot of mistakes in the last fight and hes studied them to correct the problems before Saturdays bout. "The past fights are going to help me a lot because I learned from that," Dos Santos said. "I think the biggest challenge is going to be to stop him. He walks forward all the time and we have to take care of that." Dos Santos (15-3-0) took the title from Velasquez in the first meeting in November 2011 with a knockout in 64 seconds. It remains the only career loss for Velasquez, who is 12-1-0. "If you look at my UFC fights, most of them I knock them out very fast and it happened withh him, too," Dos Santos said.dddddddddddd "The second fight he showed a little bit of who he is. He put on some pressure, made me tired and won the fight. Thats what he does very well. Now were going to see which one works better, my style or his style." Velasquez is looking to guard against Dos Santos landing that one big punch because he believes thats the only way Dos Santos can win. Seven of Dos Santoss victories in the UFC have come by knockout, which is tied for second-most in heavyweight history. "I think thats the case, landing that one punch," Velasquez said when asked how Dos Santos could win. "Weve got to use our game plan to fight him. Just be aggressive and in his face all the time and just take that away from him." The Brazilian-born Dos Santos is a big fan of boxing and hopes Saturdays fight helps this trilogy live up to some of the fabled trilogies in boxing history. "I want to be one of those," he said. "Years after this fight people will be talking about us, but I want people to talk about Junior Dos Santos more." The co-main event at the Toyota Center, home the NBAs Houston Rockets, will feature former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier against Roy Nelson in a heavyweight matchup. Cormier is undefeated and Nelson is one of six fighters in UFC history to knock out two or more opponents in less than a minute each. Also on the card is UFC lightweight contender and former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez against former Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez. Gabriel Gonzaga takes on Shawn Jordan in a heavyweight fight, and flyweights John Dodson and Darrell Montague round out the competition. ' ' '