Jon Lester has been scratched from his scheduled start tomorrow due to a case of dead arm.
Get your panicked screams out of your system early.
Ok. Feel better? No?
Well let’s run down some of the tweets with the Lester information, which will hopefully comfort you a tiny bit:
Jon Lester scratched for tomorrow's start. Dead arm. Not a big concern, per Joe Maddon
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 20, 2015
#Cubs announce Jon Lester will skip tomorrow's start as a precaution because of a "dead arm" but still remains on track for Opening Day.
— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) March 20, 2015
Lester scratched from Saturday's start because of a "dead arm." Maddon says Lester still in line for opener
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 20, 2015
I would tell you not to panic about Lester but it prob won't help. According to Maddon he's had dead arm issue before (like most pitchers)
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 20, 2015
Maddon: "Not pain. A lot of guys go through that moment where the arm just doesn't feel right. He came out of the chute really strong."
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 20, 2015
Maddon on Lester: "I checked in with him this morning. He felt great. So we just want to back off a little bit right now." #Cubs
— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) March 20, 2015
Do you feel better? Probably a tiny bit. Do you feel completely relieved? Nah. And I understand.
Anything with a pitcher’s arm is scary, especially when that arm is attached to arguably the Cubs’ most important pitcher. But true dead arm* is something most pitchers deal with at some point (sometimes annually), and it isn’t necessarily a big deal. It is entirely plausible that this isn’t some serious arm problem being disguised as something minor. This really could be nothing, and the Cubs are just being outrageously cautious given the time of year and Lester’s importance.
If Lester skips this turn in the rotation and makes his final Spring start at some point next week, then this is a blip that can almost completely be ignored. Let’s hope that’s what happens, and we never have to actually panic about this.
*(There’s more medical specificity to it, but the gist is: your arm, starting at your shoulder, just doesn’t feel right and needs to rest. You might not suffer a serious injury if you keep throwing, but you probably won’t be as effective as you’d normally be. Many pitchers deal with the issue for a short while, get over it, and that’s that.)