Cubs' Lester to miss Saturday start

The spring-training phenomenon known as "dead arm" has hit Cubs ace Jon Lester.

The lefty has been scratched from Saturday's scheduled start against Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners, but the Cubs also said Lester's opening-night start on April 5 doesn't appear jeopardized.

"He's going through a little bit of a dead-arm period," manager Joe Maddon told reporters Friday before the Cubs played the White Sox in Glendale, Arizona. "He more than likely will not miss the start after that, but we wanted to be very cautious with it right now, and at this point it does not impact Opening Day."

Lester was the free-agent pitching prize of the off-season, and the Cubs landed him with a six-year $155 million deal. He was roughed up in his last start, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits in 3⅓ innings Monday against the Padres.

"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."

Reports out of Glendale say Lester has told the Cubs he's gone through dead-arm periods in the past. Left-hander Eric Jokisch, a product of Northwestern University, will start in place of Lester in Saturday's game.