Cubs' Bryant held out due to shoulder fatigue
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon held Kris Bryant out of Sunday's 6-1 victory over the White Sox.
Bryant entered the day 5-for-22 on the current swing to Arizona and the South Side. He was on the disabled list from July 24-Sept. 1 with left-shoulder inflammation.
"Just his shoulder is a little bit fatigued - not hurting, just fatigued," Maddon said. "You want to be proactive. We could wait until tomorrow. If you wait until tomorrow, if something were to happen today, you'd feel really badly about that. So just talking to him, listening to him and his body, we're just going to give him today off."
Maddon went on to explain what "fatigued" means.
"Just a lack of strength," he said. "That was part of the thing when he was hurt. As he was coming back, before he got into baseball activities, building up his strength levels of his shoulder, you just get weak in an area, and that's what happened. They've been staying on it. We've been playing him a lot without any breaks. We have to be proactive regarding giving him rest, and it just happened that he needed it today."
Bryant shrugged his shoulder at any concern.
"I think it was like when I first came off (the DL)," he said. "You need a breather here and there. That's what it was. I'm glad we got a pretty good win. Pretty good day for it."
Getting Strop ready:
Reliever Pedro Strop, who had been doing most of the closing with Brandon Morrow on the disabled list and now out for the season, may throw off a bullpen mound in the coming days.
Strop been sidelined with a left-hamstring injury, suffered while running to first base at Washington on Sept. 13. He has expressed optimism that he could pitch before the regular season ends.
"It's a lot better than had thought until this point," Joe Maddon said. "He'll let us know. He'll go out there and throw with more effort in the bullpen, and you'll know exactly the way he is and what we can do. I think he's fine. When you talk to him, he's surprising himself actually. He's not feeling anything negative after he throws, moves or jogs, whatever. It's progressing pretty good."
An endorsement for Zobrist:
Joe Maddon said he'd endorse infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist as the National League's Comeback Player of the Year.
Zobrist went 3-for-6 in Sunday. That brought his batting average from .311 to .314. He has been a contender for the batting title in the NL. Milwaukee's Christian Yelich is at .322, and the Reds' Scooter Gennett is batting .315.
"I know there's other great candidates out there," Maddon said about Comeback Player. "Zo's what, 37? I don't know all the criteria involved, but what he's done this year offensively, defensively, he's been pretty spectacular. Yes, I'd like to throw his name in the hat as being a strong candidate, the candidate, for Comeback Player of the Year."
Lester is Mr. Consistency:
Jon Lester didn't have his best stuff Saturday night, but he did earn his 17th win of the season as the Cubs beat the White Sox 8-3.
Lester is 17-6 with a 3.43 ERA this season. For his Cubs career, which began in 2015, he is 60-31 with a 3.36 ERA. His scheduled start Thursday will be his 32nd of the season. He made 32 starts in each of his first three seasons with the Cubs, with whom he signed a six-year contract.