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Levine: Jon Lester Ready To Rebuild Arm Strength

By Bruce Levine--

MESA, Ariz. (CBS) --  Arm strength -- not pitch count -- is what the Cubs are evaluating in ace left-hander Jon Lester's readiness for Opening Day. Lester will try to work his pitch count back to 60 Thursday morning when he starts in a minor league game, five days after he was scratched from a start with left arm fatigue.

Lester was doing fine until he hit a pitching wall on March 16. After throwing 71 pitches in a subpar outing, Lester said his arm and body had gone dead on him. Since then, he has worked on other conditioning aspect and thrown a side session Tuesday of 40 pitches.

The plan is to have Lester get his arm stronger by tossing close to 60 pitches Thursday, then repeating a minor league start five days later. When he completes his March 31 performance, the hope is he will have built up to 80 pitches.

"We are confident he will be ready to start (the season) if he gets up to around 80 pitches," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Ideally you like to see your starters get to 90 or 100 and back off. He may be somewhat restricted regarding length in that first game. He already pitched 70 prior to moving him back. As of right now, he will throw in minor league games. We want to be able to control what he is doing. I am not concerned who he pitches against. We just need somebody standing up there so he gets the requisite number of pitches thrown."

Knowing the way Opening Day weather goes in the Midwest, there could be other variables to consider on April 5 when Lester is scheduled to face the Cardinals and ace Adam Wainwright, who has been slowed by his own arm soreness issues this spring. Wainwright will also be watched closely by St Louis.

Lester hasn't missed a start in his last seven seasons and hasn't had fewer than 31 outings in any of those years.

The Cubs are said to be pursuing starting pitching. Injuries have taken once-perceived pitching depth in the rotation down to the bare bone, with Tsuyoshi Wada and Jacob Turner also sidelined in addition to Lester.

Counting on Edwin Jackson to rebound may be pure folly, as he's had some decent outings this spring but was also torched for eight runs in 1 2/3 innings Tuesday. Catcher Welington Castillo could be the player who brings back a pitcher in a trade before Opening Day for Chicago.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.

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