The story of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff this year has been starter Carlos Zambrano. Unfortunately for the Wrigley Field faithful it’s hasn’t been a necessarily happy tale.

On April 22, Zambrano was demoted to the bullpen. That’s not necessary a big deal. Starting pitchers are sent to the bully all-time, but very few have a $91.5 million contract ($18,875,000 in 2010) and have pitched the past six Opening Day games for their current club.

Zambrano started the season 1-2 with a 7.45 ERA in four starts. Taking his place in the rotation was Ted Lilly-the veteran left-hander returned to the Cubs after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.

The move was lauded by many who felt it was a way to improve the Cubs’ struggling middle-relief and to get Zambrano back on track. As you might imagine, the big righty from Venezuela didn’t want to pitch out of the bullpen but he was told by skipper Lou Piniella that the move was temporary.

“I don’t like to be a reliever,” Zambrano said. “I don’t want to be a reliever but this team needs somebody to step up and help out the bullpen.”

In 11 relief appearances, Zambrano allowed 6 earned runs and 16 hits in 11.1 innings. He was charged with one loss, picked up three holds, and dropped his ERA nearly a full point, from 7.45 to 6.46. During Zambrano’s stint in the pen, the Cubs went 19-14, but in their last 12 games they were 8-4.

“When I give my players my word on something, I follow through with it. He’s done his part, and I’m going to do mine,” said Piniella.

The Cubs’ skipper then announced that Zambrano will make his return to the Cubs’ starting rotation during a three game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That series begins on May 31.

This presents Piniella with a difficult decision to make as all five starters have been effective this year.

“We’re not five games under .500 because we’ve had a bad rotation,” said general manager Jim Hendry.

So to make room for Zambrano which of the Cubs starting pitchers gets sent to the bullpen?

LHP Ted Lilly

The 34-year old left hander made his first start of the season April 24 against Milwaukee. He picked up the win after throwing six shut-out innings. Since then he’s gone 0-4 with a 3.63 ERA.

Lately, Lilly has been pitching better (his ERA topped out at 5.29) but even in his wins he’s not getting much run support (only 2.8 per game). Lilly is a proven veteran that the Cubs will surely want on the mound every five days as they make a push for the postseason.

RHP Ryan Dempster

Right hander Ryan Dempster leads the team with 65 strikeouts. He’s 3-4 on the season with a 3.31 ERA. He also seems to be getting into a nice groove. During an outing on May 25 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dempster went eight innings allowing no runs, just three hits, and striking out seven.

Dempster has a tendency to walk a few too many batters and gives up a few too many home runs, but he eats up a lot of innings and can throw a lot of pitches. It seems unlikely that Sweet Lou would demote a work horse like Dempster to the bullpen.

RHP Carlos Silva

Carlos Silva has been the Cubs most effective starter this year. He’s 6-0 on the season with 3.52 ERA and he leads the team in wins. In his first nine starts, he’s allowed just 21 earned runs and 11 walks.

The right-hander from Venezuela works very quickly on the mound and has excellent command of his arsenal of pitches: fastball, slider, and changeup. With the type of year Silva is having it’s unlikely that Zambrano will be taking his place.

LHP Tom Gorzelanny

Up until a May 26 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, lefty Tom Gorzelanny was leading the Cubs in ERA at 3.09. However, he gave up seven runs to the Dodgers in five innings and his ERA ballooned to 3.66. The 27-year old may have struggled that night due to an injury. In his previous start, his pitching hand got whacked by a comebacker.

For most of the season Grozelanny has been on top of his game. In May, in 29.2 innings pitched, he had a 36:14 strikes to walks ratio. Unfortunately for Gorzelanny, his last bad outing, as well as a 2-5 record, makes him a strong candidate for the bullpen.

RHP Randy Wells

Swapping right-hander Randy Wells for right-hander Zambrano allows Piniella to maintain a nice balance of righties to lefties in his starting rotation (three right-handers to two left-handers). Wells also has a contract conducive to coming out of the pen ($427,000 in 2010).

The 27-year old native of Belleville, Illinois is 3-3 with a 4.79 ERA this season. He’s only pitched seven or more innings in three of his ten starts. In his May 28 outing against the St. Louis Cardinals, he failed to escape the first inning allowing the Cubs’ hated rivals to score five runs on six hits. Piniella gave him the hook before Wells could even record an out. Now it looks like the manager will also give Wells the hook from the starting rotation.

Author Bio: Ryan Hogan writes for Get Cubs Tickets, a website that sells affordable sports tickets such as cheap MLB tickets and offers original Cubs articles.

Category: Sports
Keywords: chicago cubs, cubs pitching, cubs starting rotation, cubs tickets, Carlos Zambrano, Lou Piniella