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Maddon not yet ready to commit to electronic umpires

There's no question the Cubs and manager Joe Maddon were less than enamored of some of the ball-and-strike calls over the past week.

After one game, Maddon said the home-plate umpire, Toby Basner, had a "ball zone" instead of a strike zone.

While calls for electronic, or "robo-umpires," has intensified in recent years, Maddon said Saturday he's not sure if he wants to go there yet even though he likes replay for calls in the field.

"Honestly, I've been vacillating on that," Maddon said. "I love what's going on on the bases. I admit that. I've talked about that because in spring training, when it wasn't there, you really found out how much you liked it being there. I'm convinced of that although there are a couple tweaks I would still like to see.

"Balls and strikes. It's just hard to tell. You don't even know. It's be careful what you wish for or unintended consequences. If there is an electronically controlled zone, which I've been speaking more in favor of recently, are veteran umpires actually really good at understanding nuance of the game and what actually is a good pitch and what needs to be called a strike based on how the game is supposed to be played and run, whatever? Or does it have to be more exact regarding, 'This is exactly the strike zone against this guy, how tall he is, however he stands, whatever that means' Is that going to be important? I'm really vacillating on this right now."

Another roster move:

Because their bullpen has been overtaxed by non-quality starts, the Cubs made a roster move, recalling left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzny from Class AAA Iowa.

To make room, they designated outfielder Matt Szczur for assignment.

Zastryzny was 0-1 with 1 save and a 6.88 ERA at Iowa in 7 games. He made his big-league debut with the Cubs last season, going 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 8 games, 1 as a starter. He was a second-round draft pick of the Cubs in 2013.

Szczur was 4-for-19 this year. Over four seasons with the Cubs, he batted .243 with 8 homers.

It was the second roster move in two days for the Cubs. On Friday they optioned reliever Justin Grimm to Iowa and recalled reliever Felix Pena. Pena had to come into Saturday's game in the first inning after starter Brett Anderson was ineffective.

Heyward held out:

Right fielder Jason Heyward was kept out of Saturday's starting lineup against the Yankees because of a sore knuckle on his right hand. Joe Maddon said Heyward injured himself diving for a ball in Friday's series opener.

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