3/20 Stewart back in lineup

Ian Stewart’s wrist may never be 100 percent but the good news is that it hasn’t slowed the Cubs third baseman down.

“It stinks to say but I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve got some nagging stuff that is going to linger for a while with my wrist so that’s why I always have either heat or ice on it,” Stewart said Tuesday. “That’s just a thing that’ll be there. You’ll see it a lot. I’m just trying to maintain it. It feels good.”

He had been slowed lately with a sore right quad but was in the Cubs lineup on Tuesday to face the Athletics in Phoenix in a split squad game. The injury scared him a little in the beginning but he has taken precautionary steps to make sure it doesn’t linger into the season.

The wrist flared up toward the end of 2011 and Stewart said he first felt it in late July.

“As far as I know, I just remember taking [batting practice] at Dodger stadium and it becoming sore over there,” Stewart said. “I said something and tried to play with it for a couple weeks and it got to the point where I couldn’t swing anymore so I shut it down in August.”

His last game with the Rockies was Aug. 8, and he finished with a .156 average in 48 games. The year had started badly because of a knee injury. The wrist is the focus now.

“He says more than anything the thing might flare up or he feels it doing off field stuff, not even baseball stuff,” Dale Sveum said. “It’s something you monitor but it hasn’t affected him at all in Spring Training. He just feels it once in a while doing something.”

– Carrie Muskat