Although he is eligible to return from the Injured List on Friday, it looks like the Cubs are going to take advantage of the off-days on Thursday and Monday to push Jon Lester’s return from a hamstring injury back to next week at the earliest.
The announced probable pitchers for this weekend’s series in Chicago against the Diamondbacks are Kyle Hendricks on Friday, Yu Darvish on Saturday, and Jose Quintana on Sunday. Because of Thursday’s off-day, everyone is still pitching on at least normal rest.
Lester, who strained his hamstring running the bases during the home opener, has been out since last Monday, but the Cubs haven’t really been worse for the wear just yet, thanks to off-days and Sunday’s snow-out.
Here’s hoping his recovery is still going smoothly, and the Cubs are just being overly cautious with the 35-year-old lefty, who started the year off looking as good as any other arm in the rotation at the time.