CUBS BEING CAREFUL WITH VET LESTER
Hendricks, Yu ahead of game with pitch counts, but Cubs playing it safe with Lester
As the Cubs move closer to setting their rotation before the season opener Friday against the Brewers, making sure the staff is ready for the 60-game sprint is a priority. The Cubs have monitored their starters closely during summer camp and have kept a keen eye on their increasing workloads.
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who was named the Opening Day starter, has looked sharp since the beginning of camp. His game plan during MLB’s shutdown allowed him to get right into the swing of things.
‘‘I like to throw more, but I was also aware that it was going to be a quick ramp-up once a deal was reached,’’ Hendricks said. ‘‘I put in a lot of time during the quarantine and stayed on my throwing . . . . I didn’t want to get overzealous and do too much to, you know, hurt anything . . . . We really had to navigate our way through it. But I’m glad I did it the way I did.’’
Right-hander Yu Darvish, who will get the nod Saturday, struggled early in the exhibition game Monday against the White Sox, allowing five earned runs in the first inning — including a grand slam to Eloy Jimenez — in the Cubs’ 5-3 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field. Manager David Ross hinted right-hander Tyler Chatwood likely would pitch the finale of the weekend series against the Brewers.
While Hendricks and Darvish have been ahead of schedule getting stretched out and boosting their pitch counts, left-hander Jon Lester has taken a little more time to increase his workload.
Lester is expected to pitch in the final exhibition game Wednesday against the Twins in a tandem start with right-hander Alec Mills. That would put them on track to round out the Cubs’ rotation and start against the Reds next week.
‘‘I want to continue to build Jon up and try to take care of his body in the downtime,’’ Ross said. ‘‘When you ramp up for spring training and have a shutdown period and then try to ramp it back up [again], we’re just super-sensitive to veteran-type pitchers that have a lot of miles on their arm, and we just want to make sure Jon gets his pitch count.
‘‘I don’t worry about the competition part [and] the pitch-execution part as long as he’s built up, and I know he’s going to compete as good as anybody we have on the staff. The main thing there is just the health and stretching [him] out as far as we can.’’
Lester, 36, has been a workhorse since signing with the Cubs. According to Baseball-Reference.com, his 941‰ innings since 2015 are the eighth-most in MLB.
The Cubs will play 18 games without a day off to start the season, and getting the pitchers off to a fast start and keeping them healthy will be key to the team’s success.
‘‘We knew guys were going to be in different places coming into this summer camp, not only the starters but the relievers, too,’’ pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. ‘‘So we really have to take an individualized approach to this . . . .
‘‘What’s going to be unique about going into this season is you’re going to have different thresholds with where you feel comfortable. We’re going to communicate; we’re going to see how this stuff looks.
‘‘But we also have to be smart about the fact that we have 18 straight [games] to start the season, and there’s not going to be an extra off day there. So every time we increase that workload, we increase that intensity, you’re not gaining extra time. So you’re still on that five-day kind of routine.’’