MESA, Ariz. — For the Chicago Cubs, one of those silly-but-great February traditions — the first-day-of-spring-training news conference with the triumvirate of Manager Joe Maddon, General Manager Jed Hoyer and team president Theo Epstein — found itself, by necessity, usurped by one of those silly-but-great traditions that typically come in December or January: the unveiling, complete with the ceremonial donning of cap and uniform, of the team’s shiny, new, high-priced acquisition.
And so, Tuesday afternoon, a roughly 20-foot-by-30-foot room set up as workspace for about 15 media members found itself crammed with nearly 100 people — dozens of journalists from Chicago and Japan, the Cubs’ brass, a couple of agents and the person chiefly responsible for this mash-up of winter and spring rites: right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish.