Well consider us shocked. With Ted Lilly due to return to the starting rotation very, very soon, the Cubs have moved starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen. Because Tom Gorzelanny is a more effective starter than the pitcher the team is paying almost $18 million for this year? When Sweet Lou was asked about the move, he said there were concerns over Z's "stuff, experience and durability." Zambrano is 1-2 in four starts this year with a 7.45 ERA so maybe a move to the bullpen in order to help him get back into his old form. It would also seem to be a move meant to shore up a bullpen that's blown too many leads to count this season (and we're only two weeks in). But Z's numbers aren't that much better than Gray or Grabow. Z seemed okay with the decision, claiming he's going to play the role of eighth inning set up man. more ›

• On again, off again: the abortion notification law is on hold once more after a judge issued a restraining order on it this afternoon at the request of the ACLU.
• According to prosecutors, the man accused of causing a wreck that killed a pregnant mother and the baby - delivered by emergency c-section after the crash - had cocaine in his system at the time of the crash.
• Mick Dumke breaks down Mayor Daley's interview with WBEZ from earlier in the week.

While it was no shock to see only one Cub on this year's NL All-Star Roster, it's hard not to consider a certain White Sox player as snubbed. Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly and Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle were the lone representative from each team named to this year's All-Star teams. Missing from the AL squad? Jermaine Dye, whose 19/50/.291 line wasn't good enough. Dye isn't included on this year's Final Vote list, which gives fans the chance to vote in the final player to each roster. more ›

Lou Piniella has set the rotation for the Cubs playoff series which starts Wednesday. Ryan Dempster gets the call in game one on Wednesday followed by Carlos Zambrano in game two. Rich Harden will start game three and Ted Lilly will start game four (if necessary). Jason Marquis will work out of the bullpen. Said Lou, "I said before I announced any pitcher that I had confidence in all four of my starters, so all games are equally important, and we chose to go this way. Everybody's got to do their job now." more ›

A quick addendum to yesterday's post about Dominic DiAngi, the boy who landed in the hospital after getting beaned by a foul ball off Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly's bat. Lilly as well as first baseman Derrek Lee visited the boy last night at Children's Memorial Hospital, where they stayed for 20 minutes and brought the kid a Cubs jersey. The Cubs have been in constant contact with DiAngi's family, and also sent him a baseball autographed by the entire team, a glove and jersey autographed by shortstop Ryan Theriot, and a bat signed by second baseman Mark DeRosa. more ›

Fans can expect another busy offseason for the Cubs. And while last winter was spent courting the likes of Alfonso Soriano and Ted Lilly, this year's focus is going to be the ownership of the team. The Tribune Co., the current owners, has been dragging its feet on the sale, as it tries to maximize the overall price. While officially the desire is to close the sale during the fourth quarter, it's likely a deal... more ›

Does Starbucks have anything larger than a venti? We're sure that many across Chicago are wondering the same thing if they stayed up to watch the entire Cubs-Diamondbacks game last night. Between the 9:07 p.m. first pitch and a 3-hour, 44-minute game, one was hard pressed to brush their teeth and make it to bed before 1:00 a.m. — enough time for a few hours of shuteye before getting up to trudge into the office. more ›

In Game One of the NLDS, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cubs 3-1, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. The big question is whether Cubs skipper Lou Piniella pulled Carlos Zambrano too soon. The Cubs ace was dealing, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out eight. The Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb matched Zambrano pitch for pitch, resulting in a 1-1 tie after the sixth. Yet Piniella pulled Z after six innings... more ›

The Cubs now have fewer than ten games remaining on their schedule, and after Wednesday night's 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, they sit alone atop the NL Central — the Brewers lost to the Astros in extra innings. Lou Piniella's short-rest experiment worked Wednesday night, as Ted Lilly looked sharp, pitching seven innings while allowing two runs and striking out eight. While he didn't earn the victory, he kept the Cubs close enough that... more ›

While our White Sox managed to tie the KC Royals in the AL Central basement earlier this week, the Cubs are quickly closing in on the other end of the standings. Ted Lilly had another strong outing for the Cubs, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 Wednesday night. With the win -- combined with the Milwaukee Brewers' loss -- moved the Cubs to within just two games of first in the NL Central. The... more ›

For the first three games of the Cubs-Giants series, slugger Barry Bonds kept himself planted to the visitors' dugout bench for the most part. Cubs fans got little chance to boo Bonds as one pinch hit at-bat was his only playing time. For those who were patient, however, Bonds made up for his absence by putting on quite a show on Thursday. Mired in an 0-21 batting slump while racing toward Hank Aaron's all-time home... more ›

2006's baseball season brought disappointment to both sides of Chicago. Coming off their 2005 World Series title, the White Sox won 90 games but missed the playoffs — in spite of a number of roster upgrades during the offseason. Did Kenny Williams tinker too much with the chemistry that won them a title in '05? Last year's team never seemed to find its rhythm. On the North Side, the Cubs climbed ever closer to that... more ›

It looked like the Cubs and Carlos Zambrano were headed to a contentious arbitration hearing yesterday, but the two sides negotiated right up to the hearing's start time and came to an agreement on a 1-year, $12.4 million deal. more ›

Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano, still awaiting his Feb 20th salary arbitration hearing, made a pretty strong declaration on Monday. Entering the final year of his current deal, he stated that if he and the Cubs don't come to an agreement on a multi-year contract before the season begins, he's leaving the Cubs when he becomes a free agent after the upcoming season. more ›

Both of our baseball teams made some noise involving pitching on Wednesday at MLB's Winter Meetings, with the Cubs signing a high-priced free agent, while the White Sox traded away one of their starters. The Cubs signed Ted Lilly to a 4-year, $40 million deal — with Jim Hendry in the hospital, no less! "Jim was hooked up to an EKG machine, and we got it done," Lilly's agent explained. Hendry had been admitted to... more ›

With baseball's Winter Meetings now underway in Orlando, baseball's hot stove is heating up. Both Chicago clubs are at the center of many rumors, as pitching has been the clear focus of this offseason for most teams. The Cubs have been mentioned as suitors of nearly all big-name free agent pitchers, from Daisuke Matsuzaka to Jason Schmidt. With the Red Sox winning the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka and Schmidt likely out of the Cubs'... more ›