Starting pitching has been a strength of the Cubs in recent years, but their depth took a hit Nov. 3 when left-hander Ted Lilly had arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder.

Lilly, who emerged as the de facto ace of the Cubs staff this year, had been bothered by inflammation in July. He also went 12 days between starts in late September because of lingering shoulder issues. The Cubs said the surgery was just a "cleanup" and that Lilly suffered no significant structural damage to the shoulder.

At the end of the season, Lilly and the Cubs trainers and doctors decided surgery wasn't needed at that time, and rest was prescribed. Unfortunately for Lilly and the Cubs, the shoulder didn't get better, and Lilly had it 'scoped.

The upshot is that Lilly will not begin throwing for four months, which means early March at best. He is likely to open the 2010 regular season on the disabled list, but he and the Cubs expressed confidence will be ready to pitch sometime in April.

"It was something I didn't want to do, but I also started to feel that after a month and it still wasn't getting better, I had thoughts of going into the season and trying to battle through shoulder problems all year, and I just didn't want to do that," Lilly said of opting for surgery. "The understanding I've been given is that there was no serious labral work done, no significant rotator cuff (damage). When he went in there, it didn't look really bad. It was just one of those things that was causing me problems."

Heading into the free agent and trading season, general manager Jim Hendry has three starters in his rotation: right-handers Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells. Unless Hendry makes a trade or signs a free agent, jobs will be there to be had in spring training.

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