Who will be the odd man out?

In case you missed it, the Cubs are in the process of stretching out Carlos Zambrano in order to put him back in the rotation.  Which means that in about a week, they will have another decision on their hands: Who will be removed from the rotation?

Early speculation has it that Tom Gorzelanny will be the odd man out.  However, he has not done anything to warrant being removed from the rotation.  He leads Cubs starters with a 3.09 ERA and is second with 48 K's.

Everyone keeps waiting for Carlos Silva to revert bad to his old, bad ways, but he is a perfect 6-0, with a 3.52 ERA.  But, after a blistering start to the year (2-0 with a 1.73 ERA in April), Silva has come down to earth a bit in May with a 5.20 ERA (despite a 4-0 record) for the month.

Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells have been consistently good this year, posting ERA's of 3.73 and 3.99, respectively.  In fact, Ted Lilly has arguably been the worst starter of the Cubs current 5, posting a 4.30 ERA and a 1-4 record in his 6 starts.  However, given his track record with the Cubs and the fact that he's still building up his velocity after off-season shoulder surgery, the Cubs will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Compounding the issue is the fact that the Cubs' top pitching prospect, Andrew Cashner, has been tearing up the high minors with a 6-1 record and 2.13 ERA in 9 starts between AA and AAA.

Add it all up and the Cubs are in the enviable position of having 7 viable starters for 5 spots.  Sounds to me like the Cubs are in position to trade one of their starters for an area of need (such as, THE BULLPEN).

The Cubs could use Tom Gorzelanny's recent finger injury as an excuse to place him on the DL and buy themselves some more time, but a decision still has to be made at some point.

Chances are that Gorzelanny will be the odd man out and will be either traded or sent to the bullpen.   But, in my mind, unless they can trade Gorzelanny for a strong arm in the bullpen, he belongs in the rotation.

I would demote Carlos Silva.  Sure he is 6-0, but he is already showing signs that his luck is running out and it would be best to get him out of there before the wheels come off altogether.