Renteria has high expectations for Cubs

PHOENIX -- Rick Renteria closed his first spring as Cubs manager on Saturday on an upbeat note. While unconcerned about the low expectations elsewhere for his club this season, Renteria said the team has to live up to its own lofty goals.

"I've always expected to do things with success in mind," Renteria said before the Cubs played their final exhibition game against the D-backs at Chase Field. "I'm not changing my approach or my attitude. That's my expectations of my club. I think they have expectations of themselves. Quite frankly, if you don't set goals for yourself, there's nothing to shoot for.

"It's kind of hard to drive yourself. You need to have expectations and I think we should reach for the stars."

When asked what reaching for the stars meant, Renteria added: "I want to win the World Series, absolutely. Why not?"

The Cubs haven't done that since 1908. They haven't made the playoffs since 2008 and haven't had a winning season since 2009. They are coming off a 66-96 season and Renteria is the club's fourth manager since Mike Quade replaced Lou Piniella with 37 games to go in the 2010 season.

Renteria was hired after Dale Sveum was dismissed this past offseason.

The former Padres bench coach under manager Bud Black, Renteria said he felt comfortable in his first spring as a big league manager.

"I thought it went great," Renteria said. "I had a lot of good people around me. They really made it easy for me. The transition was actually very nice. Everybody worked very hard. Thankfully, there weren't a whole lot of complications."