Somehow the Cubs stay in it despite chaos

By foxsports
Published

The Chicago Cubs were five weeks into the season before they had to use the disabled list for the first time.

"You knew that wasn't going to last," said general manager Jim Hendry. "But we didn't necessarily expect it to change so drastically."

Truth be told, the fact the Cubs are still in the midst of the postseason battle is impressive considering the aches and pains that have developed.




Carlos Zambrano, who suffered a strained left hamstring, became the first of 17 moves to the disabled list for the Cubs in the last 10 weeks, five of which have involved four of the members of the Cubs' season-opening rotation.

Zambrano, who missed 19 days in May, returned to the disabled list during the weekend because of a lower back strain. Ted Lilly has been out since July 25 because of inflammation in his left shoulder, although he does begin a rehab assignment this week.

In May, the Cubs were without Rich Harden because of a mid-back strain. And Ryan Dempster, who like Zambrano was an All-Star a year ago, was out for three weeks in July with a broken right big toe.

Those injuries combined with early-season ineffectiveness that resulted in Sean Marshall being moved into the bullpen leaves the Cubs as the only National League team without a starting pitcher who has made more than 20 starts. In fact, every other NL team except Washington, which has a worst-in-baseball 40-72 record, and San Diego, which is in last place in the NL West, have had multiple starters make at least 21 starts.

With the hope that Lilly will return next Monday, the Cubs are figuring that Jeff Samardzija will be making a one-time only start in place of Zambrano on Wednesday, moving Tom Gorzelanny, who has been filling in for Lilly, into Zambrano's spot upon the return of Lilly.

"There are issues we have to deal with, and we will," said Hendry. "It's not like anybody wants to stop the game and feel sorry for us. We have adjustments to make to get the job done and we plan to make those adjustments. At this point in the season, there's no time to worry about what has happened. The focus has to be on what is going to happen."