NEW YORK -- The Chicago Cubs placed first baseman Derrek Lee
on the 15-day disabled list Monday with inflammation in his right
wrist, and said there are no plans to shelve the NL batting
champion for the rest of the season.
Lee, a two-time Gold Glove winner, broke two bones in his right
wrist in a collision with Rafael Furcal of the Dodgers on April 19.
He was activated from the DL on June 25 but has experienced some
pain and weakness in the wrist since his return.
Lee went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in a 7-1 loss to the Nationals
on Sunday and trainer Mark O'Neal said the move was discussed after
the game. The 30-year-old was batting .227 with a home run and four
RBIs in 20 games since he was activated from the DL.
"It's just a situation where it isn't getting better," Lee
said. "I was kind of just playing for the sake of playing. I
wasn't helping anybody. So if you're not helping the team, you're
not helping yourself."
Lee missed 59 games earlier in the season after the collision
with Furcal, and was out of the starting lineup for three straight
before Sunday's loss. The Cubs recalled infielder Ryan Theriot from
Triple-A Iowa to fill Lee's roster spot.
"I don't think I was ever really able to take a full good swing
so the best thing to do is sit down and let it heal the way it's
supposed to and look at it a couple weeks from now," Lee said.
O'Neal said Lee will rest for a week and then see if the wrist
responds better to game-type situations.
"He has not regressed," O'Neal said. "He hasn't gone
backwards, but it's pretty obvious that he's not swinging the bat
the way that Derrek's capable of swinging."
Lee was a Triple Crown contender for much of last season and
finished with a .335 average, 46 homers and 107 RBIs. The Cubs
started the season 9-5 with Lee in the lineup, but went 19-40 in
his absence.
"It's not any worse, that's the good news," manager Dusty
Baker said. "But it's not any better and sometimes after an injury
you kind of hit a plateau as far as his progress, and that's what
we've hit at this time."
O'Neal said the team will discuss whether Lee needs a
rehabilitation stint in the minors after he rests the wrist.
It's another setback for Chicago, which placed starter Sean
Marshall on the 15-day DL on Sunday and just got right-hander Mark
Prior back from the injured list on Friday. Kerry Wood also has
been on the DL since June 9.