Cubs' Matt Garza on schedule in elbow rehab

Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza was shut down at the end of last season by the team after injuring his elbow, but on Tuesday, manager Dale Sveum said that Garza is on schedule to start the season healthy.

"Everything is going great right now," Sveum said on Day 2 of the Winter Meetings. "He's basically on the same path as if he didn't have an injury. Everything is going really well. That's about the time he'd start throwing, before Christmas and start cranking it up. So everything is going really well."

(via ESPN Chicago)

Sveum also told reporters that Garza is anxious to get back on the mound, but that his schedule for the offseason has been no different than if he had thrown in the team's final game of the season. Last season, in his second year in Chicago, Garza started 18 games, posting a 3.91 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. He threw 103.2 innings, striking out 96 batters and walking 32.

He'll be joined by a beefed up rotation in 2013 that features newly acquired starers Scott Baker and Scott Feldman. Baker is also rehabbing from an arm injury -- in his case Tommy John surgery -- but Sveum also said on Tuesday that the team expects Baker to be ready for opening day. Both starters were signed in the offseason on one-year contracts.