March 21--GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Chicago Cubs ace Jon Lester was scratched from Saturday's start against the Seattle Mariners because of a "dead" left arm that manager Joe Maddon insists isn't serious enough to affect his opening day start.
"He's going through a little bit of a dead arm period," Maddon said Friday before the Cubs played the Chicago White Sox. "More than likely will not miss the start right after that. But we wanted to be very cautious with it right now. And at this point, it does not impact opening day."
Lester, whom the Cubs signed to a record-setting six-year, $155 million contract, has experienced similar discomfort in past seasons with the Red Sox, But Maddon insisted Lester didn't feel any pain.
"It's just a lot of guys go through that moment where the arm just doesn't feel right, partly he came out of the chute very strong and probably went after it too hard, too early," Maddon said. "He possibly was trying to impress everybody and being Jon Lester. But our guys feel very good about it. I checked with him this morning. He felt great. We just want to back off a bit right now."
After throwing five scoreless innings in his first two starts, Lester was tagged for six runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings Monday against the San Diego Padres and wasn't happy with his inability to locate his pitches consistently.
Maddon said Lester plans to throw before his next start, which lines up for Thursday.
Maddon got every indication that Lester wouldn't miss his opening night start April 5 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"Not right now I'm not. Talking to this guys this morning, it's just a precautionary thing. A lot of times you talk to a pitcher and you ask them how they're feeling. When a guy smiles, he talks easily and is upbeat about it. Normally it's a pretty good indication. And (Lester) was all of that. I really feel strongly he's going to be OK."
Left-hander Eric Jokisch will oppose Felix Hernandez at Sloan Park.
