That was just one newsworthy item from an interview with Cubs beat reporters Friday with Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney at HoHoKam Park.

Playing at the Cell

The ISFA already runs and operates U.S. Cellular Field, so if the Cubs begin a $250 million renovation of Wrigley, Kenney said it's likely they would play part of a season on the South Side with a little scheduling help from the American and National leagues.

McCarthy, making his first Cactus League appearance of the Spring, had to cut short his outing against the Brewers on Friday with more pain in his right elbow/forearm area. McCarthy was supposed to go two innings and 30 pitches, but was pulled after one inning and 19 pitches when the elbow problem flared up again.

"It happened on the third curve ball I tried to throw," McCarthy said. "I felt good out there. My fastball was alive and my curve ball was good. Everything felt good mechanically and it just flared up on me."

McCarthy has been bothered by pain and inflammation in the elbow/forearm area for the past three weeks. The Rangers thought they had it under control enough for him to pitch against the Brewers, now it's unclear when he'll pitch again. He'll be examined by Dr. Keith Meister on Saturday.

But McCarthy is down for just four more outings here in Arizona and, even if he only needs a week or two of rest, it's unlikely that he'll have enough time to build up his innings and pitch counts to be ready to begin the season in the rotation.

"We haven't gotten that far yet," general manager Jon Daniels said. "One thing is that with the off-days at the beginning of the season we have some leeway. We'll wait and see what Keith says but we need to get him healthy."

The Rangers open up the season on March 31 against the Mariners and are off on April 3rd and 7th. That means they won't need a fifth starter until April 12.

McCarthy was also sidelined last year with a persistent blister problem from June 14 to July 2 and a stress fracture in his right shoulder blade from Aug. 15 to Sept. 11. He went through an intensive strength and conditioning program this offseason and put on 15 pounds in the process.

The hope was that the program would make him stronger and more durable. But that has not yet proven to be the case so far this spring.

"This is definitely something that's kind of depressing," said McCarthy, who was on the disabled list twice last season with a variety of ailments. "I thought I had put in enough work this offseason to the point where I thought I only had to worry about pitching. To have to go through this kind of stuff is definitely tough."

The Rangers, even before McCarthy had to cut short Friday's outing, were already looking at ways to increase their pitching depth and are mulling the possibility of signing free agent pitcher Sidney Ponson to a Minor League contract and bringing him into Spring Training.