In a report by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times (so don’t put too much stock in it) Jon Lester might be lost for the season due to the lat injury he suffered in Thursday’s contest. This would be devastating news for the Chicago Cubs. Lester might not have been the Johnny Lester we’ve grown to know, but he has still been a great option and is still one of the best playoff arms in the game.
But… it seems that our friend Gordo was just throwing the idea of losing Lester out there. The Cubs are expected to put Lester on the 10-Day DL on Friday, but there has been no talk of shutting him down for the season.
“When a pitcher of his stature is potentially injured, of course, you’re a little bit concerned,” manager Joe Maddon said. “But I’m not going to jump to any kind of negative conclusions.”
Nowhere within the article Gordo scribed, did he mentioned that the Cubs expected to shut him down. He did mention that Jon will be undergoing an MRI, and he threw out a couple of lat strain comparables (Garrit Cole, Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard and Sonny Gray).
Lester pitched a six pitch first inning and seemed to be in control. He then entered the second inning, had a couple of bloop hits, and then everything flew off the rails. The Cubs trainer visited Lester on the mound after he gave up his eighth run of the inning, and that was it for Johnny.
There was a scene later which showed Lester and Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio in a heated conversation.
This reminds me of Patrick Roy in his last game as a Montreal Canadien.
Now if there is anything I know about Jon Lester it is this – HE DIDN’T MAKE THE SAME REQUEST ROY DID. I’m sure he was pissed being left in, and If he is severely hurt I’m sure he’d be even more pissed off.
We will find out for sure what is going on, and I would guess we wouldn’t see Lester until mid-September. Mike Montgomery will step into the rotation and the Cubs will call up a reliever to spell a tired bullpen.
