March 01--Manager Joe Maddon admits he's been fooled in the past by spring training performances that have affected his evaluation of certain players.
Left-hander Jon Lester went one step further Tuesday, calling spring training "weird."
"You never want to get your (rear) beat, but there are certain starts you want to work on things," Lester said Tuesday after throwing a live batting practice session. "Or whatever it is you need to improve on, there are times for that.
"You want to execute pitches and do well. It's a weird time, especially the first couple of starts and innings."
In his first spring with the Cubs last March, Lester pitched impressively well until getting tagged for six runs in 3 1/3 innings in his third start and later feeling "dead arm" symptoms that curbed his work for the final two weeks of spring training.
"Toward the end of spring, it's the time to settle in and lock it in," Lester said. "I had my time to work on this, and now it's about going out and competing and executing pitches and trying to win games.
"It's a weird time of year, but you kind of need to go about it that way (as you get closer to the end)."
Lester will throw one more bullpen session before making his first spring start next week.
